


The Last Adventure of Tom Bond

by AngelTrix



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-28
Updated: 2014-09-18
Packaged: 2018-01-26 23:26:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1706396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelTrix/pseuds/AngelTrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A/U Thanks to the first season finale.  This story has little to do with Tom Keen aka Tom Bond despite the title.  Lizzie makes a unconscious decision to save Red from being killed by Tom and learns a little about the past she and Red shares.  Hurt/Comfort with possible romance to come.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I don’t own the Blacklist or the characters, mores the pity. 

 

Red found himself looking up at the warehouse roof in shock. He remembered entering the warehouse and moving towards the only light showing. Then a feeling like a punch in the chest and here he was laying on his back with a growing pain in his chest. He slowly tried to sit up but found that he couldn’t move. He heard steps slowly approaching him from the dark. 

“You’re slipping in your old age Reddington. You should have made sure that O’Brien was really here before walking in here alone.” the voice’s owner came forward until he and Red could see each other clearly. 

“Tom Keen. You know that Lizzie is aware that you married her because your boss made it a part of your job. She’s never going to let you get close to her again. She also knows you killed Jolene. What she doesn’t know that you also killed an old asset of mine that I sent to bring Jolene to me. “ said Red.

“Well, you don’t need to worry about telling her about my killing that old cowboy. I’m not going to drag this out Reddington. I’ll figure out what to tell Berlin about how you died. And, here’s a thought in your last minute of life, Lizzie’s going to be glad to you are out of her life and I’ll figure out a way to explain away all the evidence she found that I’m not her loving husband. Then I’ll be right back in her house and in her bed.” Tom smirked pointing the gun at Red’s head. 

A shot rang out in the quiet of the warehouse. Red couldn’t hide the flinch when he heard the shot followed by a ringing echo. After a few seconds he opened his eyes in time to see blood covering Tom’s torso as he slowly slid to the floor. He looked in the direction of the door trying to see who fired on Tom. He saw Dembe coming through the door behind Lizzie. He watched her as she hurried to kick the gun away from Tom’s hand and briefly checked for a pulse before rushing to his side. 

“Red!”, Liz said as she ran to his side as knelt next to him on the floor. She grabbed her phone and frantically started calling for an ambulance. 

“No, no ambulance,” said Red as he tried to grab the phone from her hand. 

She easily evaded him and continued trying to contact 911. Dembe walked up to her from behind and pulled the phone from her hand. He quickly knelt next to Red and started to assess how badly Red was hurt. Dembe stripped his shirt off and pressed it hard against the wound on Red’s chest. Red let out a gasp in response and gritted his teeth to prevent any other sounds from escaping.

“Call Mr. Kaplan. She can deal with this, she has all equipment she needs already set up in another safe house.” Red told her through his gritted teeth. 

“Red, I can’t do that I’m an FBI agent. I have to get you to a hospital and get this all reported per FBI regulations.” Liz responded. “Someone is going to report the gun shots shortly. The police can’t come in here and find a dead body and a pool of blood with no explanations.”

“As soon as the police run my name or finger prints and I’ll be under arrest before I even get treatment. Then when the FBI steps in my deal is going to become common knowledge and I’ll be useless to the FBI. Which means I’ll be put into a deep dark hole never to be seen again. Dembe is going to take me out of here with or without your approval. You can stay here and explain away the dead body and since he’s your husband you know who the prime suspect is going to be, second pool of blood or not. You’ve got until I pass out to make your decision. That should be in about a minute or so.” Red said, his voice barely audible at the end. 

Lizzie grimaced as she looked at Red trying to make the right decision.

“Alright, alright . . . I’ll call Cooper and let him know we are getting you treated somewhere the police won’t find you.” Liz conceded. “Can I please have me phone back?” she said to Dembe.

“I will give it back to you as soon as we are on our way to the safe house and Mr. Kaplan has been called to meet us there.” said Dembe.

Liz did a double take, shocked to hear Dembe say more than a couple of words at a time. 

“Keep pressure on the wound while I carry him to the car.” Dembe said to Liz. 

Liz put her hands over Dembe’s on the shirt that was quickly becoming soaked with Red’s blood. She looked at Red’s face and found the he was right when he said he’d be passed out in about a minute. His face looked peaceful even though his breaths were shallow gasps. 

Dembe picked Red up gently and they shuffled to the waiting car. Once they reached the car Liz quickly opened the closest back door. She slid across the seat and used her lap to pillow Red’s head after Dembe slid him onto the backseat after her. She reached over his head to keep up the pressure on his chest.

Dembe slammed the back door shut and was behind the steering wheel with the engine started within moments. As he pulled on the street he dialed Mr. Kaplan’s direct line. The phone on the other end of the line was picked up on the second ring.

“This is Kaplan” said the voice on phone.

“Red has been shot, we are on our way to the St. Charles street safe house. How quickly can you be there? He’s losing a lot of blood.” Dembe told her in a tense voice.

“I can be there in ten minutes. How far out are you?” Kaplan calmly asked.

“‘We are about seven minutes away. We will get him inside and onto the examination table to await your arrival.” Dembe then hung up. He turned to Liz and said “Here is your phone Agent Keen.”

Liz took the phone from his outstretched hand and started dialing one handed. After the first ring she heard her boss’s voice give a quick answer of “Cooper” and after a slight pause, “What do you need Agent Keen?”.

“Reddington has been shot and we are on the way to one of his safe houses for treatment. We have to make sure all calls of shots fired at the warehouse where the meeting was schedule to take place to be cancelled. I’m not sure how you’ll handle that, but I’m sure Aram can figure out a way to do it. Inside the warehouse you’ll find the dead body of Tom Keen, my husband. He’s the one that shot Red and I shot and killed Tom in return.” Lizzie said all this in what seemed to be a single breath. 

“We’ll deal with the situation at the warehouse. I’ll need a full report as soon as Reddington is treated. How badly wounded is he?” Cooper’s voice actually sounded concerned. 

“It’s bad. He was shot in the right side of his chest. He’s lost a lot of blood and is unconscious. I’ll call you as soon as I have an update on his condition.” Liz stated before quickly hanging up the phone.

“How much longer Dembe”, Lizzie called to the driver.

“We are only about a block away” Dembe responded.

Lizzie realized she’d been so concentrated on Red and her call with Cooper that she hadn’t paid any attention to how fast Dembe was driving. Dembe made a sharp right into the driveway next to a modest single family home. He quickly shut the engine off and ran around to the rear passenger side door. As he reached into the backseat to grab Red’s legs Liz heard the sound of a screen door slamming shut and there was a man with long grey hair next to Dembe. He took Red’s legs from Dembe and Dembe reached up to place his hand over Lizzie’s on Red’s chest. 

“Agent Keen, please get out and come around to this side of the car. I’ll need you to keep pressure on the wound while Anderson and I carry him into the house.” 

Lizzie gently lifted Red’s head off he lap and slipped out the door next to her. She ran around the rear of the car and when they moved Red far enough out of the car she quickly replaced her hand on the blood soaked shirt. She was grateful that Red was unconscious and didn’t feel them pressing down on his wound.

Anderson and Dembe made quick work of getting him into the house and on to the examination table. Dembe grabbed a pair of scissors from the counter top and began to cut off Red’s suit jacket and vest. With Anderson’s help he pulled them out from under Red and tossed them in the corner. 

“I’m going to cut the shirt and when I tell you I want you to stop pressing on the wound long enough to get if off completely.” Dembe informed Lizzie. She nodded her understanding.

“Did Mr. Kaplan give you any instructions on what she needed to have setup for when she gets here?” Dembe questioned Anderson while he worked cutting off the blood and sweat soaked white dress shirt.

“She told me she wanted the surgical setup from the third cabinet. She also wanted two pots of water put on to boil. I’ve gotten the water and I’m getting surgical instruments setup. She also wanted two pints of blood taken out of the freezer and placed in the sink to start thawing out. We only have two pints of A negative in the refrigerator. I think she’s going to pick more up on her way here. She’s afraid it’s going to take more than two pints to get through the surgery.” replied Anderson.

Just as he stopped speaking the back door flew open and everyone jumped and turned towards the door. In walked in the sharp featured Mr. Kaplan with her ever present large hand bag. “How is he doing? Has he regained consciousness since we spoke?” she asked to the room.

“His bleeding has slowed, but I don’t know if that is due us keeping pressure on the wound or because he’s lost so much blood. He hasn’t regained consciousness, His breathing seems fine if a bit fast” Lizzie answered unable to keep the fear from her voice.

Mr, Kaplan was quickly unpacking various items from her bag. As Anderson said there was three bags of blood placed within reach of the surgical table. “I need to wash my hands and get the anesthesia ready. Just finish getting his shirt off and keep the pressure on the wound. I’ll be ready to start within the next few minutes.”

Dembe and Lizzie nodded their understanding of the instructions. Dembe finished the last cuts left on the shirt.

“Agent Keen on the count of three pull your hands off the wound. Anderson come help lift him up so I can get the shirt off.” instructed Dembe and he started to count. At the count of two Anderson slipped his hands under Red’s shoulders. At the count of three Lizzie pulled her hands away and Anderson lifted Red’s upper body as gently as he could. Dembe quickly yanked the shirt away and tossed it in the corner with the rest of Red’s clothing. Anderson laid Red back down as Kaplan reentered the room.

Kaplan quickly grabbed the IV kit and prepared to start the IV. She swabbed the inside of Red’s left elbow and ripped open the packaging containing the IV needle and plastic tubing. She tied the tourniquet wound his left bicep and slid the needle into the vein that had popped to the surface. She tapped the needle down and slipped the needle at the other end of the tubing into one of the bags of blood. When the blood had filled the tube she slid the other end of the tubing to the needle in Red’s arm. She turned and hung the bag on the IV stand at the side of the bed.

“Alright, if anyone is squeamish at the sight of blood they need to leave the room now. I can’t deal with anyone retching while I’m trying to remove the bullet.” Kaplan announced to everyone standing in the room. When no one made a move for the door she nodded her approval and turned back to Red.


	2. Chapter 2

Still don’t own the Blacklist. I’m only borrowing them for a little while. I’ll put them back more or less intact.

It had taken Kaplan over an hour to locate and remove the bullet from Red’s chest. She was able to suture up any major bleeders and had inserted a chest tube to allow the wound to drain. She’d then instructed Dembe and Anderson to move him to the bed in the master bedroom. The bed looked like a normal bed until Dembe showed Liz the control to raise and lower the head or foot of the bed. After he showed her how to use the remote he placed it on the bed next to Red’s left hand.

“We are going to need to watch over him tonight to make sure he doesn’t pull the incision and tear any stitches. I wish we’d arranged to have a nurse on call as well. I may be able to bring one in from another team, but we won’t be able to have her or him here before tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. I’m sure once he’s conscious he’s going to want to leave to one of the other safe houses. In the midst of all this I forgot to ask who did this and are they still on the loose?” Kaplan asked Dembe and Lizzie.

“It was my fake husband that shot him and he’s dead. I called the incident into my superiors so I’m sure the FBI is all over the crime scene. I’ll need to check in again with an update on Red and I’ll probably have to go in and give my version of what happened. I take it you think he’s going to make it without being admitted to a hospital.” Liz asked Kaplan.

Kaplan glanced at her and Dembe a moment before saying, “Dembe, why don’t you take the first shift and I’ll talk to Agent Scott in the other room.” 

Kaplan then motioned for Liz to leave the room ahead of her. She quietly closed the door to the master suite. She continued down the hall to the area that would have been a den in a normal house. This room had a couch and a couple of chairs placed around the room. There was nothing fancy to the furnishings. They were there only to provide somewhere to wait while the patient was treated. This house was nothing like anything she’s seen Red use before. 

Lizzie could hear Anderson in the “living” room cleaning up after the impromptu surgery. Kaplan gestured for Lizzie to take a seat before she sat in one of the chairs. 

“Agent Scott I didn’t want to have this discussion where Raymond could hear. If you’ll remember I didn’t use any general anesthetic so I’m not sure how deeply unconscious he is right at the moment. I believe I was able to remove the bullet without causing any additional damage. I located all the major bleeders and sutured them to prevent any further bleeding. I predict he will be fine, but he’s been very seriously wounded. He needs to rest and stay in bed for at least a couple of days. Then we can think about moving him somewhere else to recuperate. He’s not going to like this restriction. I’m going to need your help convincing him this is necessary. “ Kaplan said giving Lizzie a steady stern look.

“What makes you think I can make him stay here and in bed. He never listens to me and ignores what I suggest most of the time.” Lizzie’s voice going from surprise to irritation. 

“You have a more influence with him than you think. And, if you said you would stay here with him I think we might have a good chance of his agreeing. If you have to meet with your superiors have them come here. You need to stay here with him. It won’t matter if they know where this house is, we’ll be switching to another location since this one has been compromised.” Kaplan said and again surprising Lizzie.

“Ok, I’ll call Cooper and let him know where we are and tell him I can’t leave. I’m sure he’ll be here as soon as I give him this location.” said Lizzie with wry twist to her lips. “Why are you saying this location has been compromised? Is it because I know where it is?”

Kaplan looked at Lizzie for a moment and said, “If it was just you I wouldn’t consider the location compromised. It’s because of who you work for that I do consider it compromised. The fewer of Raymond’s safe houses the FBI knows of the better. There is a reason he stays in different houses and hotels for only two days. It is too easy to locate someone if they spend a longer period of time in a single location. If you only spend a couple of days somewhere and switch between safe house locations and hotels, it makes it almost impossible for someone to predict where you will be next. Unless you have a tail on someone 24/7 it takes a little time to locate someone even if you have the correct resources. Then it can time to get to the location and arrange a raid. By the time all this has taken place the target has usually already moved to another location.” she gave Lizzie a small smile and continued, “This is how he stayed ahead of Agent Ressler for the last five years.”

Lizzie knew she shouldn’t be amused by Kaplan’s last statement, but she couldn’t help giving a little chuckle, “Red would have blamed it on banana peels, but I just think he just enjoys embarrassing Agency Ressler.”

Liz reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. “I guess I’d better make that call to Cooper. I’m sure he’s furious I haven’t called before now.” 

Liz was right. As soon as she got Cooper on the line he lashed into her for not calling in sooner. He didn’t seem to care that there wasn’t anything to report sooner. He cut off her explanation demanding to know where she had taken Reddington. Once she’d given him the address he told her he would be there shortly to get her report in person.

When Liz got off the phone she went searching for Mr. Kaplan. She found her in Red’s room giving him a quick check up. 

“Cooper is on his way. I think it would be best if he didn’t see you. I’m sure Red would prefer to keep you a secret from the rest of the FBI. Do you have someone else that can check up on him if Cooper decides to leave agents behind to guard him?” 

Kaplan and Dembe shared a look of agreement before she turned to Lizzie. 

“You are probably right. I think the only people that should be here when your superior arrives is you and Dembe. I have a local doctor that we have used before to treat members of our team and I’m sure we can get him to stop by a couple of times a day. I think there will be agents watching the house even if they don’t place any inside here with you. I’ll leave instructions for his care until we can get the doctor to start checking in. Dembe can you come with me while Agent Keen stays with Raymond?” 

Dembe quickly followed Kaplan from the room leaving Lizzie alone with Red for the first time since leaving the warehouse. She found a chair in the corner of the room that she dragged over to the bed. She sat down with a tired sigh and closed her burning eyes. She felt close to tears and she wasn’t sure who the tears would have been for, Red or Tom. She has been so angry at both of them for how they’ve been using her for their own gain, but couldn’t find it in herself to be sorry for killing Tom. She knew in the split second before pulling the trigger that she couldn’t let him kill Red. She realized that if Red died she would not only lose someone that knew her past, but also someone she’d come to trust implicitly. That was as far down that particular road she was willing to travel right now.

Lizzie opened her eyes and glanced down at Red who appears to still be unconscious. She reached over that placed her hand over his left one on the bed. “Red I don’t know if you can hear me or not, but you need to know I made my decision. I want to work with you to find out who Tom worked for and how that connects to your Blacklist and my past. You’d better make it, I need you.” 

She was surprised to feel the tears she had been keeping at bay start to roll down her cheeks. She let them flow until she finally got herself under control again. Liz let go of his hand to wipe the tears away. She continued to sit there looking at him and realized with a jolt that this was the first time she’d seen him in anything but a suit and tie. She recalled his FBI file listing his various tattoos and glanced at the one on his right arm. What the meaning behind the spider pealing away pieces of an ace of spades was one she would have to ask him about. She indulged herself with a long look at his torso, the soft looking hair on his chest, his muscular shoulders and arms. For some reason she always assumed he wouldn’t look this way. The disguise of the three piece suit completely fooled her into believing he didn’t have the strength necessary to be a physical threat. Now she knew how wrong she was in thinking that he was only a threat with a gun in his hand. 

There was a loud knocking on the front door and she could hear Dembe answering it. She hadn’t heard Kaplan and Anderson leave, but she knew Dembe wouldn’t have answered the door so quickly if they had still been in the house. Lizzie quickly moved into the master bath to wash the tears from her face before facing Cooper and the interrogation to follow.


	3. Chapter 3

Lizzie waited in the bedroom for Cooper. She didn’t want to leave Red alone and figured Cooper would want to check in on him anyway. It felt a little cool in the room to her and she had just reached to pull the blankets up a bit higher when she heard the door open. Liz twisted around to look at the door without straightening up and finished arranging the blankets. After she was finished she straightened up and turned to face Cooper. She discovered Ressler had followed her boss into the room. Ressler gave her a look she couldn’t interpret. It might have been anger, but she couldn’t figure out why he would have been angry with her. Liz let this pass and concentrated on Cooper.

Cooper appraised Red’s condition silently for a moment before he looked away. It seemed strange to him seeing Red quiet. The man always seemed to be speaking. At times it seemed to Cooper that Reddington spoke only to hear his own voice. He turned to Liz and asked, “How is he? Has his conditioned changed since we spoke?”

“He’s the same. He’s still unconscious, but he could wake up at anytime. He seems stable.” Lizzie responded. “Did you manage to keep the local police away from the warehouse?”

“Yes, we have an FBI team there dealing with the scene. They have collected a weapon at the scene which I’m assuming is Tom’s, or whatever the hell his real name may be. Once it’s processed and we can determine he fired it I believe we can close the case. We haven’t made any mention in any official record of anyone else being in the warehouse. Any mention of any other bloodstains will be excised from any official reports.” Cooper informed her. “Now give me your report on what went down.”

“Sir, let me get Dembe to come sit with Reddington while we talk in the other room.” Liz said leading them from the room and back to the den area. “Dembe could you please sit with him while I give my report? His condition seems the same to me, but I believe you were given more information on what changes we should be expecting.”

Dembe nodded to her and quickly walked past them back into the bedroom and quietly closed the door.

“Tell me Agent Keen how did you know that your husband and Reddington were at that warehouse?” Cooper demanded as soon as they had all taken seats. Cooper and Ressler were seated on the couch and Lizzie took a seat in one of the chairs facing them.

“Sir, let me assure you I didn’t know they were both in the warehouse. Reddington told me earlier that day that he had business to attend to tonight and that is all I knew of his plans. I got a text from an unknown number about an hour before I arrived at the warehouse telling me that I could find Tom at an address near the waterfront. I didn’t know who sent the text and yes it was stupid of me to go without backup. It wasn’t until I arrived at the warehouse that I saw Red’s car outside and Dembe just getting out of the front seat. He was concerned that I had followed them and that Red would be angry if I interfered with whatever deal was going down. That was when we heard a gunshot from inside. We made entry into the warehouse and found Reddington down and Tom standing over him getting ready to shoot him in the head. I pulled my weapon and fired killing Tom before he could shoot Red again.” Lizzie was proud of herself for being able to deliver her report in a professional manner when all she wanted to do now was break down. 

“Who made the decision to not take him to a hospital for treatment?” Ressler asked.

“Red vetoed the idea of going to the hospital. Dembe told me they had a contingency plan in place for situations like this one and he was going to take him to one of their safe houses that was outfitted as a private underground hospital. My only choice was to go with them and help keep Reddington from bleeding out on the way. “ Liz responded.

“Who exactly performed the surgery? I sincerely doubt that Dembe has the medical knowledge necessary to deal with this on his own.” Cooper questioned.

“I can’t tell you that. I would lose the trust of Red and all his associates if I give you the identify of that asset.” Liz replied with more bravado than she was feeling at the moment. 

“I’m assuming this asset is the one that will be providing follow-up care?” Ressler said looking between Cooper and Lizzie.

“No, arrangements are being made to have a local doctor provide any follow-up care needed. I’ve been asked to stay here for a couple of days to try and keep Reddington from leaving while he is still unstable. I’m not sure if I can convince him not to leave, but he really does need to stay here.” Lizzie responded to Cooper. She didn’t like the direction of Ressler’s questions. It seemed he was more concerned with learning more about Red’s associates than trying to figure out who had hired Tom.

“You must realize that we will need to station agents here to provide additional security. Tom’s boss may not be aware of Tom’s death yet, but if they have any kind of check in schedule it won’t be long before he figures it out.” Cooper told her.

“I understand sir, but can I request that it only be agents from our team? I think Reddington would be less likely to resist if it’s agents with whom he’s developed a certain level of trust.” 

“Agreed. Agent Ressler will take the first shift with you now and I’ll set up a rotating schedule between Malik, Ressler, and yourself. I’d like to have a third member to take a shift since I doubt you are going to be able to stand a normal shift. Is there anyone else that you think he wouldn’t mind having see him like this?” Cooper asked her.

“I think Aram would be a good third agent. He and Red have a sort of relationship. He seems to respect Aram’s abilities. I realize he’s not a field agent, but he saved my life during Garrick’s invasion. He will use his gun if it proves necessary.” Liz responded surprising Cooper with her response.

“Alright, I’m heading back to the office. I’ll inform the rest of the team what has happened and give Malik and Aram their assignments.” Cooper said as he stood up. “Agent Ressler you have the first shift tonight and I’ll send someone to relieve you in the morning.” With that Cooper started walking to the door.

“Sir, could you make any evidence that the CSU team collects at the warehouse available to me? I’d like to determine if anything points to his employer. I think I’d have a better chance of making that connection due to my previous investigation.” Liz stated looking into Cooper’s face to gauge his reaction.

“I’ll make any and all evidence collected available to you Agent Keen. I believe you can remain somewhat impartial when it comes to investigating Tom Keen’s employer if not Tom Keen himself.” With that Cooper walked out of the house into the night.

Ressler turned to face Liz head on once the door had closed behind Cooper and asked, “How are you really Liz? It couldn’t have been easy shooting Tom despite everything that has happened.”

Liz looked at him without speaking for a moment. “I really didn’t have a chance to even think about it being Tom. All I saw was Red on the ground and the gun pointed at his head. I just drew and fired completely on reflex. If I’d stopped to think about it, Red would be dead right now instead of Tom.” Liz paused briefly and continued softly “I’m still trying to realize what it is exactly that I’ve done and why.”

Ressler just looked at her quietly before saying “If anyone had told be a year ago that I would be concerned for Raymond Reddington’s life I would have laughed at them. But, now, after everything we’ve been through the past few months I realized that he’s not only the criminal I’ve chased all these years. I’m also seeing him as a man that has become what he is due to circumstances that were possibly out of his control. I think I’m beginning to trust him and that frightens me a bit. I haven’t spent as much time with him as you have so I can only imagine your confusion is even more profound than mine.”

Liz’s eyes began to fill with tears. “When I found out he killed Sam I was determined I wouldn’t have anything to do with him again. He told me why he did it and I thought he was just trying to justify his actions. But, I continued to think about what he’d told me and I started to realize that I wasn’t just angry that he’d killed Sam, I was angry that he’d taken away my chance to say goodbye to him. If I’d realize my last phone call with him was going to be my “last” call there is so much I would have said to him.” she said as the tears started to roll down her cheeks. 

“Do you think there was anything you could have said to him that he didn’t already know?” Ressler asked her gently.

“No”, Lizzie said with a sad smile, “I know he knew I loved him and would miss him. It was after I realized why I was mad at him that I started to forgive him. He did what he did because he loved Sam too. I may not know what their relationship was exactly, but I could tell from the way he confessed what he did, that he did love Sam too.”

Liz wiped her face with the back of her hands and got off the couch. “I’m going to go check up on him.” 

Ressler watched her go. He felt for what she was going through and knew she’s come out stronger on the other end. He just wished she didn’t have to deal with killing the man she’d lived with for years as her husband to only find out their relationship was a lie. He rose from the couch and started exploring the house. If he was going to provide any protection he’d need to know his way around. 

Liz quietly opened the door to the bedroom. Dembe was seated in the chair she’d been sitting in earlier. He rose as soon as he saw her. “Agent Keen have they left?”

“You can call me Liz Dembe. After everything with Tom I’d really like to stop hearing his name, if you know what I mean. But, in answer to your question, Cooper has left, but Ressler has been assigned the first shift as protection detail. He will rotate with Meera and Aram starting tomorrow morning. I know you will have arranged for outside protection, but you couldn’t expect Cooper not to leave another agent behind.” 

“No, as we discussed earlier we knew there would be additional agents assigned. I’ve called in additional resources. They will keep a discrete distance from the house, but they will make sure we don’t experience any surprises until we can get to another location.” Dembe told her. “I’m going to go see about some food for us. I’ll check up on him a little later.” With that he left her alone again with Red.

Liz checked the IV line that was hanging from a hook on the wall next to the bed to make sure it was flowing freely and placed her palm against Red’s forehead to check his temperature. As she was moving her hand away she realized Red’s eyes were open and looking up at her. “You’re awake! How do you feel? Are you in pain?” Lizzie rattled off the questions in a single breath.

“I’m fine, considering” Red croaked out. He gave a little cough to clear his throat. “Can I get some water?” 

Lizzie rushed to the bathroom and came back out with a glass of cold water. “Here let me help you with this.” She said reaching behind his neck to help him take a drink a little easier. “Only a few sips. You can have more later if you keep this down.” Lizzie gently laid his head back down on the pillow. 

“I’m glad to see you listened to me and didn’t drag me to a hospital. I’m assuming you’ve let Harold know all about what has happened and that . . . he now knows the location of this house.” Red stated resignedly. 

“I had to tell him and you know that.” Lizzie said as she sat back down in the chair next to the bed. “I didn’t tell him anything about who helped you. I agreed with Dembe that the FBI doesn’t need to know about Mr. Kaplan.”

Red laid there quietly looking at her trying to gauge her emotional state. “How are you doing Lizzie? It couldn’t have been easy for you to shoot Tom to save my life. Why didn’t you let him do it in payment for Sam’s death?”

Lizzie looked at him in shock. “Even if I was still angry with you about Sam I wouldn’t have wanted you dead. Especially not at Tom’s hand. I’ll be honest with you Red, I didn’t make a conscious choice. i just fired at a threat. I don’t think of Tom as my husband any longer and I think that may have made it easier for me to shoot him. I can blame or thank FBI training for taking the kill shot.” 

Red and Lizzie looked at each other without talking for a long time. Each seemingly lost in their own thoughts. They both looked up when the door to the room opened and Dembe walked in.

“Raymond my brother it is good to see you awake.” Dembe said with a big smile on his face. “You had me worried this time. “

“Dembe you know me, it’s going to take more than a bullet to the chest to stop me. I have to admit one to the head may be hard to recover from though.” Red said with traces of his usual smugness.

Liz gave an involuntary sob and clapped her right hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. Red turned his head towards her and saw her reaction to his joke. “I’m sorry Lizzie I shouldn’t have said that right now. Please forgive my gallows humor.” 

Lizzie gave a sniff and pulled her had away. “It’s alright I’m not sure why I reacted that way.” 

Both Red and Dembe knew why she had reacted the way she did, but Red didn’t say anymore about it and turned to Dembe. “What is the situation?”

Dembe didn’t answer Red he turned to Lizzie and said, “I wanted to tell you there are sandwiches and drinks in the kitchen. I suggest you eat now and I’ll watch over him while I fill him in everything that’s happened and on our plans for the next couple of days.”

Lizzie smiled gratefully at Dembe for giving her a reason to get away from the room and regain her composure. “Thank you Dembe. I’ll be back after I’ve eaten and let Ressler know Red has woken up.”

“Wait,” Red said to them both, “Agent Ressler is still here?”

“Yes, and I’ll explain everything to you while Agent Keen eats.” Dembe said looking at Red and trying to convey the need to speak privately without Lizzie catching on.

“Fine. Lizzie please enjoy your dinner for me since I think it will be a while before I’m allowed to eat.” Red said with a small smile on his face. “Oh and Lizzie,” he waited for Lizzie to look at him again and said quietly, “thank you for saving my life.” Lizzie nodded and gave a small smile in response. With that she left the two of them alone.


	4. Chapter 4

The Blacklist is not mine. 

 

Red turned to Dembe once the door had closed behind Lizzie and asked “How has been handling all of this? She says she’s fine, but I don’t think she is.”

Dembe moved over to the chair next to the bed and sat down. He leaned back with a small groan. He’d started his day early and he’s been up nearly 24 straight hours. It didn’t look like he was going to get a chance to rest anytime soon. 

“She is keeping herself too busy to think about what has happened. I think it’s all going to hit her when she finally stops moving. Just so you know she didn’t hesitate to take the shot that killed Tom. I’m sure that fact is going to play a large role in her reaction to these events.” Dembe replied.

Red turned from Dembe and stared at the ceiling over his head. He knew that she should never have been put in that situation. He’s already planned on taking Tom out himself the next time he saw him. Unfortunately, Tom saw him first. He knew he was going to have to keep her busy for the next few days to allow them all to gain some distance from what happened in that warehouse. With that distance maybe Lizzie will be able to forgive herself for killing what she still thought of as her husband even if only in the dark recesses of her mind.

“We can’t stay here too much longer. If anyone has a tail on any of the bumbling FBI agents, they will be led directly here. Lizzie’s going to fight me on this so I’m going to need you to do exactly what I tell you to do.” Red finally said to Dembe.

“Mr. Kaplan has given orders of her own. She’s told us that you have to stay here in bed for at least a couple of days. You know I’m more afraid of her than I am of you. Like it or not you will be staying right here.” Dembe told him with wry grin.

____________________________________________________________________________

Lizzie had stopped in the guest bathroom next to the master bedroom to use the facilities and washed her face. As she was stepping into the den to speak with Ressler she heard raised voices from the bedroom. She looked at Ressler in shock. She’d never heard Red yell at anyone in all the time they’d been working together. Ressler returned her look with the same expression of shock on his face. She shook her head and told Ressler with a slight grin starting to form on her face. 

“If I had to guess I’d say that Red was just told that he had to stay here. It doesn’t sound like Dembe is giving into him.” she said.

“Dembe is braver man than I am.” Ressler said smiling. 

She chuckled a bit and said “I guess I don’t need to tell you he’s awake. I’m sure the neighbors know he’s here and awake.”

She slowly lowered herself to the couch on the opposite side from Ressler. She gave a tired sigh as she sunk into the cushions. She laid her head on the cushion at her back and closed her eyes. She may have looked like she was falling asleep, but she was really trying to hear everything that was being said in the other room. As suddenly as the yelling started it stopped. She heard the bedroom door open and close softly. Dembe joined them in the den and stood looking at them. 

“I’m assuming you heard all of that.” he said pointing to the bedroom with his chin. “He didn’t like being told he had to stay here for a couple of days. We will need to keep an eye on him. I wouldn’t put it past him to try sneaking out.”

“If that’s the case why aren’t you in there watching him?” Ressler questioned sharply.

Dembe moved to the nearest chair and sat down before saying, “I’m out here because he’s asleep and should be for a couple of hours at least.”

“How did you manage that, did you punch him and knock him out?” Liz question only kidding a little bit.

Dembe smiled at her and said, “I injected a dose of morphine into his IV. I won’t be able to do that again. I think it’s going to be up to you to make him stay. The “doctor” was right in saying that you are probably the only person he’ll listen to.”

“I still don’t understand why all of you think he’ll listen to me. He will just ignore me when I tell him he has to stay, just like he always ignores things he doesn’t want to hear or do.” The exasperation clear in her voice.

Dembe shared a look with Ressler. It was apparent they knew why Red would listen to Lizzie. 

“Do you honestly not know why you’ll be able to convince him to stay here?” Ressler asker her with a note confusion in his voice. 

“I keep telling you that he won’t listen to me. Just like no one is listening to me when I saw he’ll do whatever he wants to do.” all of Liz’s frustration came out in her reply. 

“Agent Keen, Liz, you have had the ability to get him to do what you want almost since the minute he meet you. If you’d stop looking at him as someone who’s ruined your life and really look at how he acts and treats you compared to everyone else you’d see what we all see.” Dembe said quietly. Liz saw Ressler nod his head in agreement. 

Liz looked from one to the other, trying to see fi they would give her some hint as to what she’s missed in Red’s behavior. When Ressler saw she was still confused and beginning to get angry with their cryptic answers he said, “Liz” and when she turned to him he continued “it’s obvious Reddington is in love with you. I know you say you’ve never seen him before he surrendered himself, but I think he’s known you for awhile. I think you’ll need to use his feelings to get him to do what is best for him right now. And, that is staying put for a couple of days.”

Liz sat there in shock. She couldn’t have heard correctly what Ressler was trying to tell her. There was no way that Red could be in love with her. She didn’t think him capable of that emotion. If Red loved her he would never had killed her father, Sam, the most important person in her life. He told her that Sam wanted to die, but she still couldn’t get past him taking her only family away from her. Losing Sam was harder for her than finding out her marriage was a sham and that Tom was planted in her life.  
“Liz, are you alright?” Ressler asked her gently.

“You’re wrong. He’s using me to get the people on his damn list and that is all. He killed my father.” Liz spat out. “I’m not even sure why I’m still here. He’s going to be fine. I should go home and let you take the first watch.”

Liz started to get up to go. Dembe stood up and blocked her way to the door. “Liz, you can continue to deny your feelings for him. It’s apparent you have them, no matter how hard to are trying to deny them. But, you can’t deny his feelings for you. I know him better than anyone in the world and he’s never committed the sacrifices for anyone else that he’s done for you. He came out of the box for you when Anslo had a gun trained on you. He didn’t come out for Luli. He didn’t simply put a bullet in Tom’s brain when he found out he was working for Berlin. He didn’t do that because he knew you needed to deal with Tom yourself. Can you tell us why he did all that for you if he doesn’t love you?”

Liz opened and closed her mouth when she couldn’t form a reply to Dembe’s statements and question. She sat back down on the couch and stared at the wall across from the couch. When it became apparent Liz wasn’t going to reply Dembe said “I’m going to go sit with Raymond for a little while.” 

Liz heard the bedroom door open and close, but it barely registered. Her mind was whirling with the idea that Raymond Reddington might be in love with her. She didn’t know how this was even possible. She treated him so badly, said some hateful things to him. Things she realized he didn’t deserve. She had told him that he’d never done a single selfless thing in his life. She’d called him a monster, more than once. He’d simply let her accuse him of things that were not true. Call him names he didn’t deserve. As she sat there thinking about all of this she realized that she done nothing to deserve his love. As her thoughts slowed she slipped into sleep.

Ressler tried to give her time to come to terms with what she’d just heard. He sat with her quietly and looked around the room, noting the home was barely furnished. There was nothing on the walls. There was a TV in the room, but he didn’t know if it worked. 

After waiting for a few minutes longer he turned to Liz to ask her again if she was okay and saw her eyes closed and her breathing slowed in sleep. He got up slowly from the couch and went looking for a blanket to cover her. 

In his previous walk through the house he’d seen a linen closet. Inside he found a few blankets and more sheets for the bed. He also found a couple of blanket throws and grabbed one to use in covering Liz. 

After covering her up Ressler walked back to the master bedroom and knocked on the door. After hearing Dembe’s permission to enter he opened the door and stepped into the room. “Liz fell asleep on the couch. Did you want me to keep an eye him while you get a few hours sleep?” He asked Dembe.

“No, I will be fine. I’m quite used to staying up all night with him. I could use your help. I was going to get him undressed the rest of the way, but I was afraid I’d wake him up. If you help me I think we can do it without jostling him too much. Will you help me?” 

“I don’t know how much he would appreciate me helping to undress him”, Ressler said uncomfortably.

The door opened quietly behind him and he heard Lizzie say, “Don’t worry Don, I’ll help Dembe. Why don’t you go make your rounds of the house and grounds?”

Ressler looked profoundly grateful for the excuse to leave the room and quickly exited to let them deal with Reddington.

____________________________________________________________________________

Liz stood looking at Red. She was still having trouble believing what Dembe had told her, but she found that she didn’t dislike the idea that he might have those feelings for her. 

“Liz I don’t think Raymond would want you to help me undress him further.” Liz gave a little jump at the sound of Dembe’s voice. She’d been so lost in thought again that she’d forgotten he was there. 

“Dembe please, I’ve been married for years and it’s not like he’s going to be naked. We are only going to take his trousers off.” Liz said dismissively. “Lets just do it.”

Dembe looked unhappy, but realized Red’s secret was bound to be discovered by her sooner or later. He moved to the side of the bed and moved the blanket covering Red to one side. 

“We might as well just cut the trousers off. They aren’t going to be worth salvaging.” Liz said to Dembe. 

“I agree. I’ll get the scissors and be right back.” He said as he quickly left the room and returned almost immediately with the scissors.

He quickly removed Red’s belt and cut up the outside seam of both pant legs. He said “Let me roll him to one side and then you can move the trousers out of the way and we’ll repeat it for the other side.” Lizzie nodded in agreement.

Dembe moved to Red’s right side and gently rolled him to his left side. Lizzie moved his pants to the left side as well. She looked up to tell Dembe to let him down and glance at Red’s back in passing. The words that she was going to say became stuck in her throat. She saw scars covering his back. She knew exactly what would have caused that type of scar. She saw the same type of scar on a daily basis. She glanced between his back and her hand as if to compare the scars. Dembe gently laid Red on his back once again. He looked at her and waited for the inevitable questions. 

“Dembe do you know where he got those scars on his back?” Lizzie finally managed to say.

“I do, but it is not my story to tell. You can ask Raymond when he wakes up. Can you help me finish with his trousers?” Dembe said quietly.

“Of course”, Liz responded shakily.  
Dembe and Liz made short work of undressing Red and changing his IV bag. Once that was done they both sat down and simply stared at Red. 

Liz couldn’t believe what she had just seen. Ten minutes earlier she would have said that she and Red had never met prior to his surrendering to the FBI for the first time. She knew a young child’s memories were unreliable. Her memories of her dad saving her from the fire when she was four was a memory she had always treasured. Now, she questioned whether it was her father that saved her or if it was Red. If he was the one that saved her she knew he was the friend that had taken her to Sam. Liz thought back to the conversation she had with Red when she told him of her memory of her dad saving her. If it was Red that saved her that would explain the odd tone in his voice when he said “Yes” to her statement that her dad saved her. He wasn’t going to take away the one good memory she had of her dad. She couldn’t believe everything that Red was willing to do to make her and keep her happy. 

“Liz why don’t you lay down in the other room. I’ll wake you as soon as Raymond wakes up.” Dembe said after seeing the distant look on her face again.

“Alright, but call me as soon as he wakes up. We need to talk.” Lizzie told Dembe and left.


	5. Chapter 5

Liz walked into the other bedroom without really seeing where she was going. Her mind was whirling with her thoughts. She found a set of scrubs in the dresser and quickly changed her clothes. She laid her clothes on a chair in the corner before climbing into the bed. She didn’t think she was going to be able to sleep with the thought of Red’s scars swirling in her mind, but her exhaustion won out and she slept.

Liz heard a knock at her door after what felt like only minutes, but there was sunlight streaming into the room. She was confused for a moment on what room she was waking up in. She then called out for the person to enter.

Dembe opened her door and saw Liz sitting up in the bed. “He is still asleep, but he looks like he will wake soon. If you feel up to it I’d like to have you take over. I’m finding it difficult to stay alert. I need to sleep for a few hours.” 

“Of course, how long have I been asleep?” Liz asked.

“A little over four hours.” Dembe responded.

Lizzie through the blankets off of her legs and quickly stood up. “Let me just freshen up a bit and I’ll be right in.”

Both Lizzie and Dembe left the room and separated in the hallway. Dembe went back into the room with Red while Lizzie entered the bathroom.

Liz entered the master bedroom shortly and Dembe left with a grateful smile. She saw that Dembe had removed the IV while she had been asleep. She told herself it was going to next to impossible to knock Red out again. She had a little grin on her face at the thought of Dembe knocking Red out. He was a braver than she would have every been. She couldn’t wait to see how the meeting between the two of them went once both men were awake again. 

Liz could see why Dembe thought Red was close to waking. He seemed restless and she could see his eyes moving under his eyelids. While she was noting all of these symptoms Red’s eyes slowly opened. Red looked a little confused at first, but quickly took stock of the situation. He looked over at Lizzie and asked, “Where is he?”

Lizzie looked at him as if she didn’t know what he was talking about, “Which he?”

“Lizzie don’t play games with me. I’ve had a bad day and you know exactly who I’m asking about. Where is Dembe?” Red said with a little heat.

“He took the first shift watching over you and now he’s resting. You’ll have to put up with me for the next few hours.” Lizzie said with a slight smirk.

“While I always enjoy your company Lizzie I think Dembe and I have something to discuss. Would you please fetch him for me?” said Red looking away from her.

Lizzie sat looking at Red and waited for him to look at her again. When Red finally got tired of waiting for her response he looked back at her. “No.” Lizzie said shortly.

“What do you mean, no?” Red asked with a look of surprise.

Lizzie stood up and started to pace a the foot of the bed. “We have something that needs to be discussed first.” she responded wringing her hands as she paced.

Red watched Lizzie pace and thought he knew what she wanted to discuss. He thought she wanted to talk about what happened with Tom. He didn’t think he was up to dealing with that subject yet. He knew he wasn’t close to normal physically despite what he had told Dembe last night and was prepared to tell anyone who asked today. 

“Lizzie I know what you want to talk about. I’m grateful for the decision you made and I know how difficult it must be for you right now. Please know I’ll never be able to make it up to you. I understand what you are going through.” he told her.

Liz stopped pacing with a confused look. She didn’t think they were talking about the same thing. He looked concerned, but she wasn’t sure why. “Red, what are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about Tom. Isn’t that what you wanted to discuss?” Red said suddenly unsure of the direction this conversation was taking. 

Liz closed her eyes and lowered her head. She couldn’t believe that she’d forgotten about Tom. The discovery of the scars on Red’s back had made everything else fade into the background. She took a deep breath and raised her head to look into Red’s eyes. She saw Red’s forehead was scrunched up in confusion. 

“You asked me once about the scar on my hand. I told you that I had been in a fire when I was fourteen. You also asked me if someone was trying to hurt me. I lied to you, but I think you know what already. I also told you that I remembered my father saving me from the fire. That this was the only memory I had of my father.” 

Liz continued to look into Red’s eyes. She saw the moment when he realized that she’d seen the scars on his back. He pulled his eyes from hers and started to look around the room. She knew him well enough to know his avoidance techniques. 

“Red look at me please.” Liz said softly.

Slowly Red turned to head to face Lizzie. He was still not meeting her eyes. Liz was determined to wait him out. This conversation was one that she wanted to have looking into Red’s eyes. Eventually his eyes met hers. 

“I think I know the answer to this question, but I’m going to ask you anyway. You told me that you’ve never lied to me and I’ve had time to think about that while I waited for you to wake up. I can’t think of a time you have lied to me so I know you’ll answer me truthfully. Red, are you the person who saved me from the fire?” she asked quietly.

“Yes.” came Red’s short reply.

“Just ‘yes’? There’s no explanation to accompany your answer?” Lizzie asked sharply.

“Lizzie I’m really quite tired can we discuss this later.” Red said closing his eyes feigning exhaustion. 

“No, if we stop now I know I’ll never get the full story out of you. I’d like to get the full story of that night. I think I deserve to understand what happened that night since you say my father was killed in that fire. You don’t have to give me his name. I believe you that my knowing would be dangerous, for now. Please Red!” she pleaded.

Red looked at her for a long time without speaking and then looked away from her briefly. “All right. I’ll tell you as much of the story as I can without endangering you. Could you help me sit up a bit more before I start?” 

Liz grasped his right hand and gently helped him sit up straighter. She slid an extra pillow behind his back to allow him to lean back against their soft support. She also went into the bathroom and returned with a glass of water and set it on the table within Red’s reach. He gave her a slight nod of thanks. After Liz returned to her seat, Red began the story of that night.

“I want you to know at the outset most of what you are going to hear is not in my official record with the Navy.”, Liz nodded her understanding.

“When I was in my final year at Annapolis I was approached by Naval Intellegence and offered a position within that department. So, in addition to my normal class load I was also undergoing training with them. It appeared that I had an aptitude for intelligence gathering and foreign languages. After graduation I entered Naval Intellegence full time. At first I was given small assignments, just to gain experience. Then I was given my first big assignment. There was a group operating in the Midwest of the United States that were involved in everything from arms shipments to murder for hire. My assignment was to infiltrate the group and gather information on those in charge. I was instructed by my superiors to do anything I had to do to prove that I could be trusted, up to and including murder. I spent months getting inside the group and moving up the ranks. Until finally I was given an assignment that was going to test my orders. The assignment I was given was to take out a rival to the group I’d infiltrated. This rival was a small time criminal with ambitions to join the “big boys”.” Red stopped speaking and took a small sip of water.

“Your father was the ambitious small time career criminal. I surveilled his house for a couple of weeks to determine his habits. What I discovered was that every Thursday night his wife and daughter would go to her parents house for the night. The two would come back Friday mornings. I made a plan to hit the house the next Thursday night.” Red paused and looked away for a few moments. He hated telling her that he was responsible for another of he father’s death, but she’d asked for the truth and he’s always promised to never lie to her. 

He looked back into her eyes and continued. “I arrived at his house about 11:00 pm. I snuck around the back of the house so I could enter through the back door. I tried the backdoor knob to see if the door was locked. It wasn’t. That seemed very odd to me, but I quietly opened the door and went in. I heard two men’s voices coming from the living room area. Their words were pretty heated, but I couldn’t hear the exact words. As I moved closer to the room I heard something break and all went quiet. As I looked into the room I saw one of the other members of the group I’d infiltrated standing over the mark’s body on the floor. He then grabbed a can of gasoline and started splashing it around the room. When he saw me he pulled his gun and pointed it at me. I thought once he’d recognized me he’d put it away, but he didn’t. He told me that our boss had gotten tired of waiting for me to finish the job and had sent him. He told me I had two choices, one, I could strike the match and start the fire or two, I could refuse and he’d tell my bosses I didn’t have the stomach for doing what was necessary. I knew as soon as he’d reported in I would be dead.” Red paused for another sip of water.

“As I reached out to grab the matches he was holding out to me he swung the gasoline can that he still had in his hand and hit me in the back, splashing gas all over my shirt. I tried wrestling the gun away from him and during the struggle it went off. Not only killing him, but setting the room ablaze. I managed to get out of the house with only some minor burns. When I moving back around to the front of the house I heard a child screaming. Apparently his daughter was sick that day and her mom left her at home with her father while she went to her parents house. I knew I couldn’t leave an innocent child in a burning house. I’d done some things up to that point that I wasn’t proud of, but I couldn’t see a child harmed. I ran back around the house and back through the rear door. I could hear the child screaming at the end of the hallway. The flames were racing through the house. The living room was an inferno and the ceiling of the hallway was ablaze. I got as low as I could and ran down the hall to the bedroom doors. The first door lead to a spare room, but in the second bedroom was a little girl sitting on her bed screaming for her dad holding onto a stuffed bunny. Once the bedroom door was opened the flames had rushed into the room. The walls and ceiling caught like they were tissue paper. I jumped over the flames at the door and quickly ran to the little girl. I grabbed her as quickly as I could; I ran out the door and back down the hallway shielding her as best as I could. I didn’t even feel when the back of my shirt caught fire. I don’t know when it happened. I just know that by the time I got her out in the backyard I was on fire. I put her down long enough to roll on the ground to put the flames out.” Red finally paused in his story. It was like once he had started recounting what happened that night he couldn’t stop. 

He looked at Lizzie and saw the tears falling down her cheeks. He wasn’t sure what she was feeling right now. Did she want him to continue or did she hate him now without hearing the rest of the story? 

“Do you want me to continue?” Red asked her softly.

Liz just nodded as the tears continued to stream down her face.

“Once the flames were out I quickly looked to see if the little girl was all right. She had a burn on her hand and hadn’t stopped crying the whole time. I grabbed her and carried her to my car. I drove off as best as I could before the fire engines showed up. I planned on driving to her grandparents house and dropping her off on their doorstep. It wasn’t until I got there that I realized the house wasn’t her grandparent’s. it belonged to one of the lieutenants of the crime organization I had infiltrated. I’d never seen anyone outside of the house in the two weeks I’d cased the house. This time as I drove by I saw your mother and the lieutenant outside the house. She was climbing into the driver’s seat of a nondescript car. I could see luggage in the back seat and I realized she’d been planning this for awhile. I didn’t see any car seat in the car. I realized she didn’t plan on taking the little girl with her. Once I saw that I understood. She’d sold out her husband and child to get free of them. I quickly drove away, but realized that I couldn’t drive for much longer with my burns. I had a friend that I had grown up with that was living in St. Louis. It would only take about three hours to drive there so I made the decision to look him up. I knew he’d help me. He was single and would be able to disappear without too much trouble.”

“You keep saying the little girl in your story. I think we can agree that I’m that little girl.” Lizzie said sniffling a little. 

“Yes, the little girl is you. That friend as I’m sure you’ve figured out was your dad Sam. You know the rest, he took you in and raised you as his own. They would have tried to kill you if they knew you had survived the fire. Even at your young age you may have recognized someone from your trips to the lieutenant’s house and they couldn’t risk that happening” 

Red stopped and took another drink after which he laid his head back against the pillows and closed his eyes. He really was tired now he had no need to fake it anymore, but he raised his head again when he heard Lizzie start to sob. 

“Lizzie I’m so sorry. I know this had to be hard to hear.” Red said with the emotional pain clear in his voice.

Lizzie shook her head in denial. 

“No, it’s not hard hearing about my parents. I’ve lived without knowing anything about them almost my entire life. But, you had to be in excruciating pain and all you did was to think about getting me somewhere safe. I don’t know why my mother did what she did, but I trust you when you said I was in danger. I’m so sorry for accusing you of being a monster and never having a single selfless moment. I couldn’t be more wrong about it all.” Lizzie said with fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. 

Red looked at her with understanding in his eyes.

“Lizzie the man I was then is not the man I am now. I am a monster. I kill without compunction. I sell weapons to the highest bidder knowing those weapons may be used against American service men and women. I could excuse what I’ve become because of what has happened to me in my life, but other men experience tragedies and don’t turn to crime and treason as a result.” 

“Red I understand how a person’s experiences mold their personalities and informs their actions. I know it can be hard to remember, but I am an FBI profiler. I just have one more question before I let you rest, I can tell you are really tired now.” with a small smile to take the sting out of her previous statement of his faking exhaustion. “Why does knowing who my father was endanger me now?” Liz asked leaning forward in her chair and resting her elbows on her thighs. 

Red looked at her for a long time. Surprised that she wasn’t condemning him more for his actions that long ago night. She saw the slight twitch of his left cheek and rested her hand on Red’s right forearm and said “You don’t need to answer if you don’t want to, you’ve already told me more than I expected to hear.” 

Red gave a slight smile in appreciation of the out she was giving him, but he shook his head and answered, “The group that I infiltrated in the Midwest continued to expand. If the leader of that group ever found out who you really are he would put a hit out on you. Somewhere in your memories of that time may be something that could bring him down and he’s not going to allow that to happen. The only people who knew who your parents are or were was Sam and myself. As long as it remains that way you are safe. Or at least as safe as an FBI agent can be working with the Concierge of Crime on his personal Blacklist.” 

Liz smiled back at him and said, “Get some sleep. We can talk more later. Thank you for saving me then and all the times since.” 

Red closed his eyes with a smile and drifted off to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

I don’t own much and I only wish I owned Red, Lizzie and the rest of the Blacklist characters. Please don’t sue!

 

 

About three hours later Lizzie woke from a half doze on the couch in the den. It took her a moment to realize what had woken her up. There had been the sound of someone stumbling around in the master bedroom. She hadn’t planned on being out of the room so long, apparently she was more tired than she had thought. She quickly made her way back to the room where she’d left Red sleeping. 

Liz opened the door and quickly entered the room to find the bed and bedroom empty. Where in world did he go? Looking towards the in suite bathroom she saw the door was partially closed. She walked up to the door and called out, “Red are you in there?”

When she didn’t hear any response she started to open the door a bit wider. That caused a response from the room’s occupant. “Wait, I’ll be out in a second.”

“You shouldn’t be out of bed without help. Is Dembe in there with you?” Lizzie demanded.

Any reply that Red may have made was covered by the sound of the toilet flushing and the slightly unsteady footsteps of someone moving to the sink. When she heard the water turn on at the sink she pushed the door opened all the way. Red turned his head to glance at her as he finished washing his hands. 

“You know I’m perfectly capable of using the bathroom by myself. I’ve been doing it since I was two.” Red snarked at her.

“I’m sure when you were two you didn’t have a barely treated gunshot wound in your chest.” Liz huffed back at him.

Red frowned at her, but conceded the point by saying, “Since you’re apparently not going anywhere do you mind giving me a shoulder to lean on so I can sit down?” 

Lizzie moved closer to him without a word and allowed him to lean on her as they made their way back to the bed. Red sat on the edge of the bed with a sigh. He hated needing help to get back to the bed, but he wasn’t sure he would have made it back without it. He slowly leaned back against the pillows and relaxed as much as he could. 

“Why didn’t you call for one of us to come help you? You could have fallen and ended up hurting yourself worse.”

“If you haven’t noticed I’m a stubborn SOB that doesn’t like to ask for anyone’s help. I had no idea where you or Dembe were and I really had to go after all the IVs that I’d been given. Anyway it doesn’t matter anymore. Tell Dembe I need to see him. We need to get moved to another location now that I’m somewhat mobile.” 

As he saw Lizzie about to object he continued, “I’m only going to be sitting in a car while we drive to another location Lizzie. It won’t be anymore stressful than my sitting here would be.”

Lizzie had to admit what he’d said was true. She also knew he preferred the FBI not being so close to him when they weren’t on a case. She wasn’t sure when she had started thinking of herself as separate from the FBI. Lizzie opened the door and called down the hall for Dembe. She moved back to Red’s side when she heard footsteps heading her way.   
“Liz did you need me?” Dembe asked after entering the room.

“He wants to move someplace else now that he’s somewhat mobile.” Liz said with a tinge of exasperation in her voice. 

“How mobile is he? He hasn’t even been out of bed yet.”

“HE is right here. Quit talking as if I’m not in the room. I have been up and I was fine.” Red snarled at them both.

Lizzie turned to face Dembe which effectively turned her back on Red . 

“He decided he that he was recovered enough to get out of bed and into the bathroom. I have a feeling he didn’t make it in there without incident, I heard what sounded like someone falling or stumbling from the other room. By the time I made it in here he was inside the bathroom. I helped him back to bed, a small fact that he forgot to mention.” 

Both of them turned to look at Red who was sitting there with a look made up of equal parts bravado and sheepishness. Liz wasn’t sure how he managed that look, but it wasn’t something she’d ever seen on his face.

After a long moment Dembe said, “I’ll contact Mr. Kaplan to see if she feels it would be okay for us to move this soon. The doctor she mentioned sending to check up on him hasn’t made an appearance yet. She may want to wait until either she sees him or the doctor does.”

“I’ll make the decision as to whether I’m ready to move or not. You can either help me and make it easier on all of us or I’ll get out of here on my own. You know that I will.” Red directed the last statement to Dembe.

Dembe gave a grimace at the memory of the last time Red decided to change safe houses when he was injured. It was almost the same situation as they were in now. He’d been shot and didn’t want to wait any longer before leaving the somewhat safe confines of a back alley clinic in Singapore. They didn’t have any safe houses in the city and in Red’s condition they couldn’t check into a hotel. He had been determined to get on his plane and get out of there completely. When Dembe had refused to go against the doctor’s orders Red had simply pulled on his bloody clothes and stumbled out of the clinic while Dembe had been resting. When Dembe had woken up it had taken them 6 hours to locate him. He’d managed to take a cab to the airport, but he’d collapsed two hangers away from where their plane was waiting. Dembe had given in and loaded Red on the plane. They’d flown down to Sydney and moved him into one of their safe houses outside of the city. 

“Alright, which house do you want to move to?” Dembe asked quietly.

“The little farmhouse outside of Fairfax. It’s remote, but not too isolated.”

Liz who had been standing there in shock at Dembe’s agreement with Red spoke up, “Wait, wait! I thought you wanted to wait until you’d gotten the okay from the doctor or Mr. Kaplan, who I suspect is or was a doctor herself at some point.”

Ressler who had just completed his latest security sweep outside heard loud voices from Red’s room and decided to find out what was going on. He saw the door to the room was open so he walked in without knocking his presence. Only Red was in a position to see him walk in and when he did he said sarcastically, “Donald, always lovely to see you!” 

Ressler could tell that he’d interrupted something. Both Dembe and Keen were obviously disagreeing with whatever Red was saying. He glanced between the three of them before speaking. The last thing he wanted to do was get on any of their bad sides. He’d never seen three more stubborn people in his life!

“What’s going on?” Ressler asked to the room.

Red, Dembe and Lizzie continued to stare at each other. None of them made any response to Ressler’s question. If he had to put money on who was going to win this battle of wills he’s put him money on Reddington. Though he had to admit Keen was a very close second. Since he wasn’t getting any response to his question he decided to just watch the three of them to see who was going to blink first. He didn’t have too long to wait.

Red swung his legs over the side of bed and moved to stand up. 

“Wait!” Lizzie exclaimed in frustration, “Alright, alright, we’ll move to another location. Just stay there and we’ll bring you something to wear. Dembe could you grab him something loose to wear before you make the arrangements for the next safe house?”

Dembe continued to stare at Red for another moment before he turned and left the room. He quickly returned with a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Red frowned at him, but took the items from him without complaint. After dropping off the clothes Dembe left the room without another word. Lizzie had a feeling there was an interesting story behind Dembe giving in to Red’s threat to leave without assistance. She was going to get that story from either Dembe or Red later.

Red grabbed the sweatpants from the bed where he’d set them and started to bend down to get them over his feet. He gave an involuntary groan due to the pressure on his wound that moving his arm down towards his feet caused. He hoped no one heard that, he didn’t want to give Lizzie any more ammunition to say he wasn’t ready to get out here. 

Liz turned to Ressler and said, “Could you give us a few minutes while I help him get ready?”

Ressler was a little surprised that she was willing to assist Reddington instead of waiting for Dembe, but all he did was nod and leave the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

After Ressler left the room Liz knelt down at Red’s feet and attempted to help maneuver his feet through the legs of the sweatpants, but he rudely yanked them away from her. 

“I can’t do this myself. I’ve been dressing myself since I was two.” Red snarled at her. 

“Apparently you were a very advanced two year old. You could go to the bathroom on your own and dress yourself when most of them were lucky to feed themselves.” Liz snarked at him and then sat back with a sigh. It would have just been too easy for him to just accept her help. Now she had to deal with his damn male pride. He’d pass out before accepting any help. 

There was an idea, maybe she could knock him out and get him dressed before he woke up. Lizzie could tell she was exhausted if such an outrageous thought actually seemed reasonable. She shook her head looking at him still trying to get his feet through the pant legs and getting more and more frustrated. 

“You can either let me help you or I’m going to have Donald come in here and do it. Who would you rather admit needing help from, me or him?” she finally asked him.

Red knew he was being stupid but couldn’t seem to help himself. He didn’t want to admit that he needed her help with something as simple as getting his pants on, but he knew she’d follow through with her threat to call Ressler in to help. He would never accept Ressler’s help even if it meant getting into the car in nothing but his boxers. 

“Fine! Lizzie would you please help me with these damn pants.”, he had to admit he didn’t ask in the most pleasant of voices, but it was all he could do to admit he needed the help. 

Lizzie reached down and gently guided his feet through the elastic leg holes and helped him to stand up long enough to pull the pants up around his waist. She grabbed the t-shirt from the bed before Red could grab it. The last thing she wanted was a repeat of the pants drama before he admit he couldn’t move well enough to get the shirt on over his head. 

Soon enough Red was dressed and ready to go. Dembe had completed the arrangements for the house in Virginia to be ready within the hour. It paid to have an army of servants on retainer for last minute moves such as this one. Now all they had to do was manage to get there without Ressler following them. 

“Agent Ressler I will be perfectly safe without the FBI providing security. I’m sure you are aware that I have my own security force in place already. I only allowed you to remain so I wouldn’t have to argue with you and Cooper. Agent Keen will be with me so the FBI will be aware of my movements.” Reddington told Ressler as they prepared to leave. 

When Ressler seemed inclined to argue Lizzie spoke up. “Donald I’ll check in with A.D. Cooper twice a day to let him know our status. You know if you try to follow us Dembe will do something to prevent it. Lets just not go through all that and just let Reddington’s security do its job.”

Ressler didn’t look happy, but he realized she was correct. If he continued to resist he was sure Dembe would be able to incapacitate him long enough for them to slip away. He decided to concede gracefully rather than the alternative. 

“Okay, just make sure you check in with Cooper or myself every morning and evening. If we don’t hear from you we will manage to track you down somehow.” he said before climbing into his car and driving off.

“I thought he’d never leave.” Red quipped and slipped into the back seat of a new car that had been delivered earlier that morning. Liz walked around and got into the back seat next to Red while Dembe climbed into the driver’s seat. 

The drive to the farm house was more pleasant than Liz had anticipated. Red had laid his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes almost immediately. His breathing had evened out in sleep and she suspected that if Ressler had been in the car he would have stubbornly refused to show that the simple act of dressing and walking to the car had exhausted him. She reached across the seat and gently placed her hand over his where it rested on his leg. As the car slowed to turn into a narrow lane Red slowly raised his head and feeling her hand on his looked down at their joined hands. When he looked over at her she gave him a small smile, but didn’t pull away. He moved his hand enough to give her hand a gentle squeeze. 

The house that appeared at the end of the lane was not what she would have called small by any means. But, by Red’s standards it was small. The house was two stories with two small wings on either side of the main house. There was a three car garage to the left of the house. The driveway curved in front of the main house before continuing on to the garage and then looping back around to the lane leading back to the road. In the middle of the loop created by the driveway was a beautiful statue of a horse in full gallop, its mane and tail blowing in the wind. Liz had always loved horses like most young girls. Growing up in Nebraska had allowed her to ride whenever she wanted. She hadn’t had the chance to ride since she’d left for college. 

Liz’s attention was drawn away from the statue when the car stopped in front of the main house’s front door. She opened her door and exited the car while Dembe opened the car door so Red could exit. While the two of them made their way around the car the front door of the house was opened by Mr. Kaplan. When Red saw her there he gave Dembe an icy look. 

“You can’t quit giving him the evil eye. When he told me you demanded to leave and seemed to be stable enough to make the drive here I told him I would meet you here. Now get in here so I can take a look at you.” she told him sternly. 

Liz wondered again about the relationship between the oddly named Mr. Kaplan and Red. She didn’t seem like a subordinate and she had no qualms about telling him off when needed. Liz thought there had to be a great story there and this was another story she hoped to wheedle out of Red sometime during their stay. She followed Red who was being closely followed by Dembe into the house. Liz knew Dembe wanted to be close in case Red faltered without it being too obvious. She suspected Red knew exactly why Dembe was so close, but felt as long as no one said anything his pride would allow for the silent support.

Red started to turn to the right into what appeared to be a formal sitting room, but Mr. Kaplan directed him down the hallway on the left and into the second doorway on the left. The doorway lead to a large airy bedroom with another doorway in the left wall leading to its own bathroom. The walls of the room were painted a pale green with furniture of a dark wood. She directed Red to a seat on the bed and it was a sign of how tired he must be that he didn’t argue with her. When Liz looked at his face she saw that he was pale and sweaty. Mr. Kaplan quickly knelt and removed his shoes before forcing him to lay back against the pillows. 

“Raymond Reddington you are a fool! You couldn’t stay where you were for another day. Just don’t say anything, I don’t want to hear how you are fine!” Mr. Kaplan railed at him even though Red had made no effort to speak. He just looked at her tiredly and let her fuss over him. She pushed his t-shirt up enough to check his bandages for bleeding. There was nothing that Lizzie could see and apparently Mr. Kaplan agreed because she pulled his t-shirt back down. She then reached to the bottom of the bed where a folded blanket lay. She pulled it up and covered Red with it.

“Get some sleep and we’ll see about getting something for you to eat when you wake up.” Mr. Kaplan said as she shooed everyone out of the room. Red didn’t argue and simply closed his eyes and slept.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N I’m sorry for such a long wait for an update. RL and a short vacation kept me from finishing this chapter until now. I know the relationship between Red and Lizzie is progressing slowly, but that is the way I see it happening. I can’t see Lizzie jumping into a relationship so soon after Tom’s death, especially his death at her hand. It will get there, in time.

Disclaimer: The Blacklist doesn’t belong to me. I wish it did. If I did Meera would still be alive and Ressler would have been the one that died in Berlin 2. Sorry to all Ressler fans out there.

 

Every two hours one of them looked in on Red to make sure he hadn’t decided to sneak out of the house. They hoped that he would have enough sense to stay put, but after this morning none of them thought he had it in him. 

Lizzie opened the bedroom door as quietly as she could. The door had a slight squeak that she hoped didn’t wake him up. Consideration for the noise went out the window when she saw that the bed was empty. All she could think of was what he could possibly be up to now. The idiot didn’t think to call for any of them before getting out of bed. She stalked to the bathroom door which was partially closed and flung it open.

“What the hell did I tell you about getting up without assistance?” she yelled into the room without registering what she was seeing.

Red was seated on the side of the bathtub that was slowly filling up. He only had on a towel and the bandage that was wrapped around his chest. He had nearly fallen into the tub when she slammed into the room. With a grimace for the jolt that grabbing onto the other side of the tub had caused he turned to look at her.

“Lizzie don’t you ever knock? As to what I’m doing I think it’s obvious, I’m getting ready to bathe.”

Liz gritted her teeth before replying as calmly as she could. “You can’t get your stitches wet. You’ll need to clean up as best you can in the sink.”

Red reached over to turn off the tap on the tub. “I’m aware of my limitations Lizzie. I have no intentions of getting my stitches wet, that is why I’m bathing in the tub and not the shower. As you can see the tub is only about half full. That will be enough to allow me to get clean and still keep my bandages dry. This isn’t the first time I’ve had stitches Lizzie. Now if you don’t mind waiting outside I’ll be done shortly.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening. I don’t trust you as far as I could throw you. You have a choice on who will be in here keeping an eye on you, Dembe, Mr. Kaplan or myself. Which is it?” Lizzie said standing there with her arms crossed over her chest. This was the only way Lizzie felt confident she wouldn’t reach over and strangle the life out of him. She couldn’t believe how difficult he was being. 

“I’m getting into the tub now. If you choose to stay or get someone else it doesn’t matter to me. I feel filthy and I’m getting clean . . . now.” With his last word Red dropped the towel and stepped gingerly into the tub. He gave a low moan of pleasure at the feel of the hot water as he eased himself down into the tub.

Lizzie stood there with a stunned look on her face. She couldn’t believe what he’d just done. Did he have no modesty at all? 

“Lizzie if you continue to stare at me like that you’re going to inflate my ego even more than normal. You really should close your mouth. As my mother used to say, you’ll catch flies that way. If you insist on being here can you at least help me wash my back.” Red said with a smirk on his face knowing the only way to get her to leave was to embarrass her. 

She quickly closed her mouth. She hadn’t realized she’s been standing there with her mouth hanging open. It took her a moment to realize that he was trying to make her uncomfortable enough to leave. Well two could play at that game she thought with a mental smirk.

She reached for the wash cloth on the towel rack next to the tub and knelt at the side of the tub even with his side. She reached down into the tub next to his hip to wet the cloth, then looked up into his face to see his reaction. He was wearing his Red Reddington impenetrable look, but she saw a shade of unease in his eyes. She could tell he didn’t think she was going to take him up on his request. 

“Do you have the soap?” Liz asked him holding out the cloth for him place the soap on it. 

Red sat there not really sure whether he was happy that Liz decided to stay or not. He’d been pretty sure she was ready to bolt from the room when he’d dropped the towel, but then she seemed to regain her composure. He had a feeling this was going to end up being more embarrassing for him than for her, if he ever felt embarrassed anymore. He slowly reached for the soap and placed it on the cloth in her palm. 

Liz slowly rubbed the soapy cloth over his lower back, careful not to get the bottom of the bandage wet. She hesitated for a moment before rinsing the suds off. She wasn’t sure how she would be able to wash is upper back without the bandage getting damp at least. She leaned back onto her heels with her hands resting on the side of the tub while she considered her options. 

Red turned to look at her when she’d leaned away from him, not sure why she’d stopped. He also was amused that she hadn’t washed any lower than the small of his back and he couldn’t seem to stop himself from teasing her about it.

“Lizzie you didn’t need to be so literal when I asked for your help washing my back.” 

Lizzie sat there feeling her face heat with her blush. She had hoped that he hadn’t noticed that she’d been careful not to venture any lower. But, damn the man for mentioning it. She quickly soaped the cloth up again and reached into the tub.

When Red felt the cloth washing the portion of his butt not currently hidden from site, he realized it hadn’t been a good idea to tease her. He was having a not totally unexpected reaction to her touching him in such a way. He tried leaning forward a bit more to hide his lap from her site. He realized she’d caught him when he heard her give a wicked chuckle.

“If I didn’t know better I’d say you enjoyed that portion of your bath quite a bit.” Lizzie whispered into his ear. 

Feeling her breath on his ear as she whispered into it only made the problem worse. He turned to look at her a bit more and looked into her eyes. He was honestly confused whether he wanted to continue this and see where it lead or admit defeat.

"Do you need any help washing anywhere else?” Liz couldn’t help the evil grin that appeared on her face. 

“I think I can take care of the rest of my bath by myself. You can wait in the bedroom and I promise to call you when I’m done so you can help me out of the tub.”

Lizzie realized that she may have pushed the boundaries a little too much too soon, but damn it he had started it. She gave him a gentle smile and said she’d wait in the other room for him to finish up. Handing him the wash cloth she stood and grabbed a bath towel to dry her hands. She set the towel at the head of the tub within Red’s reach and then left the room.

Red sat in the tub a bit longer without moving. Lizzie was becoming quite a surprise. The hadn’t spent a lot of time together when not working a case. He knew how he felt about her and would welcome a relationship with her in time. This was much too soon after Tom, after all he’d only been dead a few days. Despite how much Lizzie knew her marriage was a sham, it would still take time for her to really come to terms with the end of the marriage. Red didn’t want to make any definitive moves toward showing Lizzie how much he would welcome a non-professional relationship with her until she had shown that she had really moved on from Tom. In the meantime, he would enjoy getting to know Lizzie outside of the FBI agent in the next few days or weeks. He might be able to drag his convalescence out a bit to keep her around longer. With a smile on his face Red picked up the soap and washcloth to finish up his bath. 

Lizzie sat on the side of the bed while Red finished up his bath. She loved the man, but hadn’t anticipated her first view of not so “little Red” would be when he was recovering from a near fatal bullet wound. Liz had hoped to enjoy the next view a bit more the next time. As these thoughts went through her mind she heard a quiet “Lizzie?” from the bathroom.

Liz got up from the bed and cracked the door to the bathroom slightly, just enough to be able to hear Red more clearly. 

“Are you ready to get out of the tub?” Lizzie called to him.

“Yes, I’m ready. I can wait here until you get Dembe if that would make you more comfortable.” he responded quietly.

Liz paused before opening the door completely and stepping into the room. She walked over to the tub keeping her eyes on Red’s face. She stopped at the side of the tub again and asked, “Do you need help getting up?” 

Red narrowed his eyes at her not sure if she was teasing him after what happened earlier. 

“I meant do you need help getting to your feet?” Liz asked again after realizing what she had said.

“If you don’t mind helping, yes I need a little help getting out of the tub. I’m a little more tired than I thought I’d be.”

Lizzie leaned down a little bit and grabbed the arm that Red had raised when he saw her moving to help. Between the two of them they had him standing in the tub. Liz reached for the towel and handed it to Red. He noted that she was carefully keeping her eyes away from him until he’d wrapped the towel securely around his waist. Red reached out and grabbed the hand that Lizzie offered to steady him as he stepped out of the tub. 

“I’ll go get you some clean clothes while you get dried off. Will you be okay alone?” 

Red grabbed a second towel and sat down on the closed lid of the toilet. 

“I’ll be fine. Thanks.” he said giving Lizzie a small smile in gratitude for her help.

With a nod Lizzie left the room leaving the door between the rooms open so she could keep an ear out for any calls for help. She looked through a few drawers in the dresser until she located some boxers, another pair of sweatpants, socks and a t-shirt. After knocking on the door frame she placed the clothes on the countertop next to wear Red was sitting. 

“Call me if you need anything else. I’ll be waiting in the other room.”

Red slowly walked into the bedroom to find Lizzie sitting on the end of the bed. He gave her a small smile of thanks and Lizzie gave him brief grin in return. 

“Where is Dembe and Mr. Kaplan?” Red asked Lizzie.

Lizzie stood up from the bed and replied, “They were in the kitchen when I last saw them. They were making dinner.”

Red turned towards the door and started to leave the room.

“Wait, where do you think you are going?” Liz asked blocking his way to the door.

Red stopped before he walked into her. He knew she wasn’t going to like his answer, but he was done lying around in bed. 

“I’m heading to the kitchen to see if they have made any headway in finding out who hired Tom. I’d also like to actually eat something that isn’t in liquid form tonight. So I thought I’d make my preference known to the two chefs.” 

With that Red moved around Lizzie and left the room. He moved right down the hallway to entryway and then moved left towards the kitchen at the rear of the house. Mr. Kaplan looked up from the pot she had been stirring on the stove when Red entered the room. She didn’t appear happy to see him out of bed, but realized that Liz had managed to keep him resting in bed much longer than she had anticipated. Red slowly took a seat at the kitchen table and glanced between Dembe and Mr. Kaplan. 

“Whatever you are cooking smells delicious.” Red exclaimed. “I can’t wait to eat.”

Mr. Kaplan looked at Dembe and Lizzie and gave a small shrug. There was no way to make Red do anything he didn’t want to do so they might as well give in gracefully. 

“Mrs. Jackson left some food in the freezer. This is her beef stew that you like so well. It should be heated up shortly. Dembe will you get Raymond some water. He needs to keep hydrated.”

Mr. Kaplan didn’t react to the grimace that flashed across Red’s face. She took what little pleasures she could when dealing with Red. It may have been petty, but he really did need to stay hydrated and wine or tea wouldn’t fill the bill. 

After they had all eaten they retired to the den. Red had been patient, much more than he was used to being, but now he wanted some answers. 

“Have you found out who hired Tom?” Red asked Dembe.

“All we’ve been able to determine is that payments were sent from bank accounts that ultimately tie back to an entity known only as Berlin. We have determined it is a person and not the city, but other than that we haven’t made any other progress.” 

“Lizzie did Tom ever mention anything about Berlin. Just a comment, something that may have slipped out unintentionally?” Red asked Lizzie knowing that the possibility was a long shot, but that is all they had at the moment. It would take a lot more time digging into Tom’s past and tracking any of his travel to see if anything odd emerged.

Lizzie slowly shook her head. She’d never heard Tom mention Berlin, either referencing the city or a person. She could tell by Red’s expression that he knew he was grasping at straws. She wished she had something to contribute to their search. 

“Have Borokove dig further into Tom’s background. Have him include his fake brother in the search. They would have to some contact in the past and see if he can dig up any other information on Jolene/Lucy. If she was his handler their lives had to intersect before now.” Red instructed Dembe tiredly.

Mr. Kaplan who had been sitting quietly in a corner reading from one of the many books located around the room walked over to them. “Alright, you’ve given your orders to the troops, not that we needed them, we do know what our next steps need to be. Yours is to get back into your room and get some rest. If you do that I might even let you out of bed again tomorrow.” she said with an obvious smirk.

Red looked at her sharply, but wisely kept his mouth shut. He didn’t put it past her to drug him in his sleep if he argued. After all he knew where Dembe had learned that trick so well. Red slowly got to his feet and left the room after wishing everyone a good night.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The Blacklist doesn’t belong to me. I wish it did. If it did I would have lobbied long hand hard to get James Spader an Emmy nomination. I’m sure he doesn’t care, but I think he deserves one.

 

 

The next morning Lizzie woke up early and went to check on Red before heading to the kitchen for a much needed cup of coffee. When she didn’t receive an answer to her knock on Red’s bedroom door she decided to go in anyway. Red surprisingly was still asleep. As she turned to leave him to sleep she noticed sweat beading on his forehead. It wasn’t that warm in the bedroom that he should be sweating. Lizzie walked over to the bed and reached over to put her hand on his forehead. She felt the heat radiating from him before she even touched him. She quickly left the room in search of Mr. Kaplan.

Lizzie found Mr. Kaplan in the dining room just sitting down to her breakfast. “You need to come in and check on Red. He’s still asleep and he’s burning up.” 

Mr. Kaplan quickly got to her feet and followed Lizzie back to Red’s room after sending Dembe to her room to grab her bag. Both women entered the room and hurried to the bed. Mr. Kaplan pulled the covers down to Red’s waist before sitting next to him on the bed. She tried to pull his t-shirt up high enough to reach the bandage covering his wound. When it was apparent she wasn’t going to be able to reach the bandage she let the shirt fall back into place. 

Dembe hurried into the room with Kaplan’s bag and after giving it to her he moved to the foot of the bed out of the way. Kaplan quickly pulled a pair of scissors and a thermometer out of her bag. She placed the thermometer into Red’s ear and held it there until it beeped. Lizzie looked over her shoulder and saw the read out showed a temperature of 103.4 degrees. Kaplan set the thermometer on the table next to the bed and started cutting Red’s shirt off. Once she could reach the bandage quickly cut it off as well. When the wound became visible it was apparent to Lizzie’s untrained eye that it was infected, but it didn’t look bad enough to have caused such a high fever. 

“Dembe I’m going to call in a prescription for additional antibiotics to the nearest pharmacy. I’m going to need you to go pick them up along with more first aid supplies.” Kaplan said stepping away from the bed as she pulled her cell phone from her pocket. 

Liz heard Kaplan speaking to someone, but wasn’t really listening to her. She knew it wasn’t uncommon for bullet wounds to become infected. The bullet often pulled in foreign matter as it entered the human body. Sometimes what it pulled in was too small for the surgeon to see when repairing the damage. Liz wasn’t going to start panicking yet.

“The prescription has been called in. I asked them to assemble the other items we need. They will all be waiting for you as soon as you can get there.” Kaplan said to Dembe. He left the room and was almost immediately pulling out of the driveway. 

Kaplan returned to where she’d been sitting on the side of the bed. She placed her hand on Red’s shoulder and shook him gently at first. When he didn’t respond she shook him with a little more force and said, “Raymond you need to wake up. Come on wake up now.” After a few moments more his eyes slowly opened. 

“Wha…, what’s going on?” Red said hoarsely.

“You’re running a fever and I need you to take some Tylenol to start getting it down. Your wound is infected and I’ve sent Dembe off to pick up a prescription for some stronger antibiotics. Do you think you can sit up long enough to take a couple of pills?” Kaplan asked speaking to him slowly as it was obvious he wasn’t his normal alert self.

Red gave her a slight nod in agreement. Kaplan had already taken a couple of tablets from a bottle in her bag while she’d been talking with him. She placed them in his hand while helping him sit up. After he tossed the pills into his mouth she handed him the water glass that had been sitting on the table. He drank only enough of the water to wash the pills down and handed the glass back to her. He laid back down and was asleep again almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. 

Kaplan looked over at Lizzie and said, “I wish he’d sleep like this when he wasn’t sick. It’s probably best that he’s out again. Cleaning the incision is not going to be pleasant. Let’s see what the Tylenol does for the fever. We need to get that down as soon as we can.”

Lizzie just nodded. He had been his normal aggravating self last night. She’d thought he’d been well on his way to recovering. Kaplan didn’t seem overly concerned, of course, she really didn’t show a lot of emotion. She was very like her employer in that regard. 

“Lizzie I know this is going to sound cliche, but I need you to put a pot on to boil. I may need to sterilize some items if I need to do more than simply clean the incision.” 

Liz left and went to the kitchen. She grabbed the largest pot she could find and set in on the stove to start heating after filling it with water. Liz leaned back against the kitchen counter wondering if Kaplan really needed this water or was just giving her a task to take her mind off of Red. Of course, Kaplan could have just wanted her out of the room so she could work in peace. With Kaplan it was sometimes hard to guess her motivation.  
____________________________________________________________________________

Kaplan sat on the side of the bed for a few moments just looking down at a sleeping Red. “You just couldn’t make this easy on us could you. No you had to go and get an infection on top of the bullet wound. Next time this happens, count me out. I can only do this so many times before it becomes too much.” 

With that Kaplan reached into her ever present bag and removed what she needed to clean out the wound site. She would need to wait for Dembe to return to re-bandage it. As she expected Red didn’t wake up during the process. 

Liz decided to look in on Red and Kaplan. It seemed like the old adage of a “watched pot never boils” was true. Kaplan might need her help and the water would boil when it was ready. As she approached the door to the room she could hear Kaplan talking to someone and the process of elimination lead her to decide it had to be Red. She didn’t hear him respond to her but, what Kaplan was saying struck a chord with her. Could she do this over and over again every time someone who didn’t like Red decided to take him out? Could she nurse him back to health repeatedly worrying that this time he wouldn’t make it? These were questions she would need to answer before she went any further in a relationship with Red. Liz turned away from the door without entering and went back to watching a pot that refused to boil.   
____________________________________________________________________________

Dembe drove as fast as he could to the pharmacy without risking a ticket. He knew that this was a normal occurrence when dealing with a gunshot wound, but he also knew that one of these times Raymond wouldn’t make it. He would never leave Raymond’s side. He owed him too much to leave him when it become difficult, but he didn’t know what he’d do if he died. Dembe hoped that with Liz at Raymond’s side he would start taking fewer risks with his life. 

Even with driving carefully Dembe made it back to the house in record time. He quickly made his way to Red’s room to hand off the supplies to Kaplan. He met up with Liz as she returned to the room after hearing the front door close from the kitchen. 

“Did they have everything that I asked for?” Kaplan asked Dembe taking the bag from his hands.

“Yes. They were a little hesitant to give me the syringes, but I convinced them that they were needed.” he replied with a slight smirk.

“I’m hoping he’ll only need a couple of doses intramuscularly. If he responds and his fever starts to come down we can switch over to oral antibiotics.” 

With that said Kaplan drew in what looked like an incredibly large dose from one of the vials that Dembe had brought back. She motioned to Dembe to roll Red onto his side slightly so she could swab his hip and give him the injection. Once the shot was administered she quickly bandaged his wound again. 

“Did you still need the boiling water or was that for my benefit?” Liz asked Kaplan with a slight frown.

“I asked you to boil water in case it was needed. If it gave you something to do at the same time, more the better.” Kaplan replied tartly. “Now if you want to do something else you can stay here and make sure his fever doesn’t spike any higher. If you think it does come get me immediately.” 

Lizzie just stared at Kaplan’s back as she left the room. She glanced at Dembe who had been looking back and forth between Liz and Kaplan as if it was a tennis match. 

“I guess she takes some getting used to doesn’t she?” Liz said to Dembe quietly. Dembe just smiled in response and left her alone with Red.

Lizzie dragged a chair from the corner of the room over to the edge of the bed, close enough to prop her feet on the edge. If it was anything like the last time she’d kept an eye on him, she needed to get comfortable. She found the remote for the TV sitting next to her on the table and turned it on. She hoped she could find a decent movie or old series on during the day. She hated daytime TV with a passion. As she channel surfed she ran across an old TV show she’d heard a lot about, but with school and work had never had a chance to watch, Boston Legal. Maybe she’d get a chance to see why it won so many Emmys while she waited to see if Red would respond to the new antibiotics. She also had a lot to think about when it came to their relationship and possible future.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N First, I want to apologize for the long delay in getting this chapter out. RL became a nightmare and then a case of writer’s block came down unbelievably hard. I hope the long wait was worth it. Secondly, I have been remiss in responding to my reviews. Just know that I treasure each and every one of them. I will be send personal responses as soon as I can.

Disclaimer: Like always I don’t own the Blacklist. I’m only borrowing my favorite characters for awhile.

 

It had been a week since Red was started on the new antibiotics. Happily for everyone he’d responded almost immediately and was back to where he was thoroughly annoying everyone by wanting to resume his normal schedule. Mr. Kaplan had left the day before stating she needed to leave before she undid all their hard work by shooting him again herself. Liz could sympathize with her, but didn’t have the same option to just leave when he got too infuriating. 

Red was already up and about that morning when Lizzie entered the kitchen. He’d already put on the coffee for her. Everyone had learned the hard way that you couldn’t approach her in the morning before she’d had her coffee. 

“So Lizzie what would you like for breakfast this morning? I was thinking of chorizo, eggs, hash browns and toast.” Red asked her.

There was another thing they’d learned about each other the past few weeks. Red adored breakfast and insisted that there be a hot breakfast cooked every morning. His thoughts were that you never knew how your day would progress. Breakfast may be the only meal you had all day, so make it a good one. As long as he didn’t make pancakes Liz was usually fine with whatever Red or Dembe cooked. It was quickly apparent to everyone why Tom had done all the cooking during their marriage. Lizzie couldn’t boil water. 

“That sounds good. What do you have planned for today?” Lizzie asked Red sitting down at the breakfast bar to watch him cook. She may not be able to cook anything decent herself, but she loved watching someone else do it.

Red had placed a couple of skillets on the stove and started frying the potatoes. While he started preparing the chorizo and egg mixture he said, “Your question suggests that I have a choice in the matter. Are you actually going to let me do more than make phone calls? Because let me say I’m beginning to develop cabin fever.”

“You know as well as I do if you really wanted to leave you would have done so already. I think you knew you were still to sick to do more than make a few calls. I talked to Mr. Kaplan before she left yesterday and she said you could leave anytime you wanted as long as you don’t over do it. You’ll have to leave the thought of tracking down Berlin on your own alone for a while longer, but if you want to restart your business meetings in person you can do so.”

Red was silent why he tended to the food. He then looked Lizzie in the eyes and said, “Berlin is all that matters right now. My business will continue with Dembe taking point for the foreseeable future. Berlin is a danger not just to me, but to you and the entire task force. I think he’s already proven that with Meera’s death and my brush with death by one of his associates hands. When I leave here everything I’m going to do is directly linked to Berlin.”

“Red please wait a little longer before searching for him.” Liz pleaded with Red.

What Red most feared had happened. He had for years avoided becoming attached to anyone. He had close associates, Dembe, Mr. Kaplan and poor Luli. He knew as soon as he became attached he would change his actions to please another person. Red knew that he needed to find Berlin as soon as he could to keep everyone safe, but he couldn’t deny Liz anything. He knew he was going to concede to her request even as it went against his instinct for survival.

“I’ll wait for a few more days, with one caveat. We decide where our relationship, for lack of a better word, is going or in fact what it is.” Red countered.

__________________________________________________________________________

After breakfast Dembe had left to run some errands that he and Red had discussed the night before, Liz had only suspicions as to what he was going to be doing. She preferred not knowing too much of Red’s business that didn’t involve the FBI. 

Red and Lizzie had retired to the living room to talk. They took seats at opposite ends of the couch. Lizzie had wanted to have this discussion ever since they’d admitted to their feelings, but now that the time was here she was nervous. She knew what she felt, now if only Red was on the same wave length. 

Red sat and simply looked at Lizzie for a moment. He could tell Lizzie was nervous and he was trying to determine the best way to start the conversation. Since he never dealt with an issue head on with her before, he thought that approach would surprise her.

“I need to know how you feel about starting a relationship with someone who is still on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. You know if the FBI ever found out we would both end up paying dearly. I’m sure they’d decide to toss me into a deep dark hole and for you the best we can hope for is your just being fired. Do you think I’m worth that kind of risk?” Red asked her quietly. He was trying to keep his own feelings separate from their conversation. He didn’t want to influence her decision. 

Liz tried not to be surprised by his asking these questions so directly. That was so like him, doing the exact opposite of what she expected. No wonder she’d never been able to come up with a solid profile of him since she’d met him. She thought the first profile that she’d delivered to him up in the restaurant in Montreal was the closest she’d come to actually capturing him on paper. 

“I’ve always tried to keep my personal and professional life separate. Tom certainly proved that bad things happen when the two of them mix. I’d like to think we’d be able to lead a life where it wouldn’t matter that you are a criminal and I’m an FBI agent. You are right if anyone found out that we had more than a professional relationship it wouldn’t end well for either of us. That being said, I’d still like to try.” Liz answered giving him a slight smile.

Red returned her smile. He was glad that she wanted to pursue a relationship despite the danger involved. Now they just had to come up with a plan to keep their relationship a secret. This could be a problem since Lizzie wasn’t the best actress and she would be in more contact with the FBI than he would. But, first there were more pleasant things to deal with than the FBI.

Red scooted closer to Lizzie on the couch and opened his arms in invitation. Lizzie being the bright girl that she is scooted over until she was in his arms and wrapped hers around him. She was careful on how tightly she hugged him, but he showed no such concern and held her tightly to him. When they finally broke apart Liz found her lips covered by Red’s in a tender first kiss. The kiss seemed to last forever and yet was over way too quickly in Liz’s opinion. Red rested his forehead against her’s briefly. As he started to move in for a longer kiss the front door opened with a loud bang. Lizzie saw Red reach into a drawer in the end table and pulled out a gun. Liz had left her sidearm in her bedroom, she’d had no need of it in all the time they’d been here. She saw Red stand and take a firing stance pointing the gun at the entry way to the living room. 

“Lizzie get behind me and get out of sight. Dembe shouldn’t be back for a couple of days so it’s not him. “ 

She quickly moved behind him and ducked down behind a chair in the corner. Next time she’d make sure to grab her gun before she left her room.

It sounded like whoever had come in was alone and seemed to be stopping at each room. Finally the footsteps seemed to be coming closer without stopping. Lizzie could see that Red was already squeezing the trigger slightly when suddenly he released it completely. 

“Donald do you realize how close you came to being shot? Don’t ever enter one of my safe houses without letting someone know you are on your way. The next time you might not be so lucky.” Red practically growled the words at Ressler.

As Ressler came further into the room, Liz stood up from behind the chair. He looked over at her in surprise. “I tried calling your phone and you didn’t answer. That is why I came in without knocking. I thought something might have happened.” Ressler told her.

“I left my phone in my room. I didn’t hear it ring.” Liz told him.

“Donald let me see your phone for a moment.” Red requested holding his hand out to Ressler. 

“Why?” Ressler answered looking uncomfortable.

“Because I don’t think you called Agent Keen. I think you planned on coming in here unannounced trying to see if anything untoward was going on.” Red said accusingly.

Ressler stood there looking uncomfortable before responding, “She has been staying here with you for weeks. I’m concerned that she may be getting a little too comfortable in your presence. Liz, I can stay here for a few hours if you want to get away for awhile.”

Liz wasn’t sure how she felt about Ressler’s accusation. Especially considering she was very comfortable around Red, but they didn’t want Ressler of all people to know that was the case. She glanced at Red and saw him give a slight glance towards the front door. She took that to mean that she should take Ressler up on his offer. 

“Thanks, I think I would like to get for a bit. I might go do a little shopping. I’ll only be gone a few hours, will you be able to stay here that long?” she asked Ressler.

“I have a few items to discuss with Reddington. If you aren’t back by then I’m sure he’ll be fine on his own for a while.” 

“Right, it’s not like someone tried to kill me or that he was working for someone that is now targeting the entire task force. If I’m now considered well enough to defend myself, I’m well enough to start my own hunt for Berlin. It’s obvious the FBI hasn’t had any luck, or have you and you just haven’t shared the good news Donald?” Red asked him sarcastically.

If looks could kill Red would be lying on the floor of the living room dead. As much as Ressler and Red had come to some understanding during their time in the box after Anslo’s incursion and the hunt for Mako Tanida, they would never be friends. Donald would never understand how anyone could turn traitor no matter the provocation.

“Liz I can stay for a couple of hours. Will that give you enough of a break or should I bring in someone else to start taking a shift with Mr. Sunshine here?”

“No it’s fine. I can be back in a couple of hours and with Dembe’s help I get a break from guard duty. We don’t need anyone else knowing where we are staying.” Liz said before leaving the room and heading down the hall. She quickly grabbed her phone, gun and badge before heading out to her car. Now all she had to do was find something to do for a couple of hours. Since she mentioned shopping she supposed she better come back with at least one bag.

____________________________________________________________________________

Red sat back down on the end of the couch, but didn’t put his gun away. He didn’t think he had anything to worry about with Donald, but he’d learned the hard way that there was only a very few that he could trust implicitly. Donald wasn’t on that list . . . yet. Red did hope that one day Donald would get that stick out of his ass and realize that sometimes you had to break the rules to do what was right.

Ressler sat down in an armchair across from the couch. This wasn’t the first time he’d been inside this house, he had made a trip out when Red was recovering from the severe infection that he’d developed. Ressler had to admit that he liked this house more than the opulent hotel suites he’d visited Red in on different occasions. This house was decorated in soothing earth tones and comfortable furniture. It wasn’t decorated as a showplace, but more like a home. The FBI hadn’t been able to determine just who owned the house. There were dummy corporations behind trusts behind even more dummy corporations. Ressler suspected that Red actually owned this ranch. Red has felt comfortable enough here to break his rule about not staying in one place longer than two nights. 

Red had stayed quiet while he watched Ressler glance around the room. He wasn’t sure what Donald was looking for, but he wasn’t in any hurry to find out what Ressler wanted to discuss with him. He had enough patience to wait him out.

“Cooper has sent me to see what information you have on Tom Keen and his employer. We keep coming up dry. Every lead we get just leads to another dead end. You know these people. We need more information if we are ever going to find them.” Ressler was unhappy about being the one to ask this of Reddington. Just a few short months ago he was hunting Reddington and now he’s been sent to practically beg for his help. He had tried asking Cooper why he didn’t just have Liz ask Reddington these questions, but he’d nearly had his head handed to him. 

“Ressler if I had any information to share on Berlin I would have already done so. Since I’ve been out of action for a few weeks I haven’t been able gather intel using my normal means. I can give you what information I have gathered on Tom Keen now that he’s out of Agent Keen’s life. If you can make a connection between Tom and Berlin you will have done something I haven’t been able to do using nearly all my resources in the past couple of years. Berlin is proving a worthy adversary. Wait here and I’ll be right back with what I have on Tom.” 

Ressler felt certain now that this was Red’s home. How else would he have all of the information on Tom at his fingertips. If this was just some safe house he’d been taken too after he was shot he wouldn’t have if with him. 

“Granted this is not much, but this flash drive contains everything I’ve been able to find on Tom Keen. I haven’t shared most of this with Lizzie, but I have another copy to show her when I feel she’s ready to see it. As much as she’d come to know that Tom wasn’t her loving husband, killing him is still too recent to bring any of this up with her. I would ask that you don’t drag her into any of this until a bit more time has passed.” Red held out the small flash drive out to Ressler. Ressler was a bit disappointed to see that Red wasn’t as old fashioned as to keep everything on paper. 

“I’ll take this back to the Post Office and let Aram review it. If he can make any progress I won’t bring it up to Keen right away. If he can’t I’ll have to ask her some questions. Believe it or not you aren’t the only person that wants to do what will be easier for her right now.” Ressler said as he took the small drive from Red’s hand.

“Tell me Donald did Cooper send you out here alone? With Berlin targeting the task force I would hope Cooper isn’t using you as bait, especially since you might have just led him right to my doorstep.” Red was starting to like Ressler, but couldn’t stop from getting a dig in now and again. 

“Your concern for my well being is touching. But, true to form your concern is really for yourself.” Ressler said through his teeth which were clenched so tightly Red was surprise he hadn’t cracked a molar yet. “If you are really worried about the task force being targeted I’m surprised you let Keen out of your sight.”

Red gave a genuine laugh before responding. “She’s better guarded right now than she would ever be at any FBI facility Donald.”

Ressler had tried to spot the security team that he knew would be guarding Red’s safe house but had been unable to see anything out of the ordinary. He knew that Red hired only the best resources that money could buy, so the fact that he couldn’t see anyone guarding the house was not surprising. 

“That being said Donald, if you want to leave before Agent Keen returns don’t let me keep you.” 

Red really didn’t want to spend any extended period of time with Ressler. Luckily if Ressler did decide to go snooping he wouldn’t find anything incriminating in the house. Lizzie had her own room and nothing of his had made its way to her room or hers to his.

“What’s wrong Red, does having an FBI agent that is not Agent Keen around bother you?” Ressler asked with a slight curl to his lip.

“To be honest Agent Ressler it has nothing to do with you being an FBI agent.” Red said with a cocked brow and mocking smile.

Ressler laughed unpleasantly. “You couldn’t drag me out of here now. I might even stay after Keen returns.”

Red had to admit that was a point for Ressler. With a smile he said, “It would be wonderful to have a guest for dinner. Agent Keen’s cooking is something I think you really should experience.”

Yes, Red would have to suffer through eating a few bites of whatever overcooked or undercooked food that Lizzie served, but it would be worth it to see Ressler try to choke it down while trying to be polite.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. I want to get the flash drive to Aram. Maybe next time.” Ressler said.

Red’s phone rang from beside him. He picked it up and answered the call. 

“Hello Lizzie. What can I do for you?” Red while smiling at Donald. “Yes, it’s okay to come in. I promise not to shoot.” 

Before Red had a chance to hang up the call he heard the front door open. He still put his hand over the gun on the seat cushion beside him. He hadn’t heard an distress in Lizzie’s voice, but he wanted to make he was prepared for anything. He had made the move as casual as he could, however Ressler noticed the move.

Lizzie came down the hallway with a plastic bag in her hand. She’d run to the grocery store and picked up a few items that they were running low on. It was the best she could do with only a couple of hours of time available. She saw Red and Ressler sitting facing each other across the low coffee table. They didn’t look happy, but at least they were both still breathing. She was never sure how they would act with each other.

“Keen I hope you enjoyed the break. If you ever need a longer one just call in and Cooper can have a replacement agent assigned.” Ressler made the offer knowing that she’d never take him up on it.

“I may take you up on that. For now I’m fine.” Lizzie made sure to face Ressler and not make any eye contact with Red. Ressler may be suspicious and she didn’t need to give him any more proof that she was unduly under Red’s influence.

Ressler nodded at her and strode rapidly down the hallway. They heard the front door close moments later. Liz ran down the hall to peak through the curtains to make sure Ressler was really leaving. Once she saw his car drive out of sight she came back into the living room. She came back into the room to find Red running an electronic bug detector over the chair where Ressler had been sitting. 

Red raised a finger to stop her from saying anything. She thought he was being overly cautious until she saw him pull a minuscule bug from under the front corner of the table that was situated between the two chairs. He held it up for her to see before dropping it to floor and stomping on it. He hoped that Donald or whoever was listening on the other end went deaf for a few days from the sound of the bug’s death by size 11 shoes.

Lizzie didn’t know what to think about the idea that the FBI and Ressler especially was trying to bug the house with her in it. Red could see her struggling with what this might mean to their decision to pursue a more intimate relationship. 

“Don’t worry Lizzie this doesn’t change anything. We just need to be very careful. We already knew we would need to be. Just keep your things in your room and I’ll do the same. They won’t be able to get in here during the night without our knowing ahead of time. Please say something Sweetheart.”

“I . . . I just can’t believe he would do that. I bet it was that Agent Martin who ordered him to do it. He doesn’t trust me and the feeling is now mutual.” Liz had gone from disappointed to angry. Red preferred her angry, he was angry himself.

What Agent Martin didn't understand was that when Red got angry someone usually ended up dead.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N There are parts of this chapter I’m unhappy with and other parts that I have no idea where they came from. Red and Lizzie are inching their way closer and closer to an intimate relationship. I suspect it might just happen in the next chapter. There, that is the hook to make you come back for the next chapter. Sort of like what TPTB did to the Daddygaters in Berlin Part 2 when they showed the scars on Red’s back. 

Disclaimer - I still don’t own the Blacklist, but I’m willing to accept it as a gift if anyone wants to give it to me. 

 

Red had spent an hour after Ressler left on the phone. Lizzie didn’t ask who he was talking to, she wanted some deniability should something happen in payback for the bug that Red had found. She wondered when she just let whatever Red decided do go by her, as if she wasn’t a federal agent. When he finally came back into the living room area he still looked angry, but she could tell he was trying to tamp it down in front of her. 

“I’m sorry Lizzie I needed to reallocate some of our intelligence assets to research a new lead. I’m now yours for the rest of the day.” Red said jovially with the first genuine smile she’d seen on his face all afternoon. “What would you like to do?”

Lizzie had a few ideas, but she realized that wasn’t what he meant. I mean after all they had never even kissed yet. They would also need to wait for anything strenuous until after Red had healed a bit more. 

“I don’t know. I can imagine you must be going crazy staying in the house. Is there somewhere safe for us to go? I know you have a squad of men located all around the perimeter of the farm. Did you want to pull some of them off to guard us if we went out?” Lizzie really didn’t know what Red did when he wasn’t working. 

Red was still smiling at her as she tried to figure out what would be safe for him, not for her. She still didn’t realized how much danger she was in. It wouldn’t sink in until after the first time someone tries to grab her and force him to do whatever they wanted to get her back. She was his weakness and he was the one that brought all kinds of danger into her life. 

“I don’t think we need to leave the farm itself. How much of the farm have you investigated while you’ve been here?” Red asked.

Liz had to admit the question surprised her. It wasn’t a working farm and all she saw was empty fields behind the house. There were what looked like paddocks in the distance, but she assumed they belonged to some farm that backed up to Red’s fields.

“I haven’t done more than walk around the outside of the house and through the gardens, which are beautiful. I’ve walked down to the road and then walked for about a mile in each direction. I always had a visible companion walking either in front, behind or across the street.” Liz paused for a moment realizing there might be a reason for the question, “Why do you ask?”

Red moved to the door facing the fields to the rear of the house. He grabbed a fedora off of the hat rack next to the door. He motioned Liz to go through the door first and he followed closely behind her. He set off at a moderate pace to the little dirt road that Liz had thought belonged to a neighbor. 

“Red where are we going?” Liz didn’t want him wearing himself out, but understood his need to get out for a bit.

Red just gave her a small smile and placed his hand in hers. He gave her hand a quick squeeze and began to talk about a subject that made him both sad and happy.

“When my daughter was very little probably about 2 years old. We were at a friends house and they had a horse, well they actually had a horse and a pony. They had a daughter about 5 years older than my daughter. My friends daughter loved to take Grace out to see her pony. She was only allowed to ride her pony if her father was riding his horse. Grace didn’t really care about the pony, but she adored the gelding that my friend would ride. Obviously, we couldn’t have a horse in the house we lived in, so I would bring her stuffed horses or porcelain horses every time I came home after a deployment. I was never gone for longer than three months at a time after Grace had been born. She soon had a huge collection.” Red paused his story long enough to open a gate. This gate blocked a shorted dirt track that lead to a large barn that was hidden from view of the house by a line of trees. 

“When I was home I would take Grace for a daddy/daughter day on the weekend. Every time I asked her what she wanted to do she said she want to go see horses. We’d pile into the car and I just drive until we ran across a horse farm. No one could say no to her when she asked to pet the “pretty horsey”. It was during one of these trips that we saw our first horse funeral. I had to explain the concept of death and why we bury dead things under the ground to a three year old.” Red stopped talking put kept walking towards the barn.

“Did she understand that all things die, people, horses, dogs, birds, insects?”

“Yes, she understood it. She was an exceptionally bright child.” Red said rather smugly.

“I didn’t tell her what I’d learned from the owner of the farm. The horse was too old to race and as a gelding he couldn’t be put out to stud. It was a small farm and they didn’t have the resources to feed horses that aren’t racing. They had put the horse down after trying to find a buyer for it for six months. All Grace knew is that a beautiful animal wasn’t going to be running around the fields anymore. She made me promise that as soon as we could find a place big enough for a horse, we would find one of those retired race horses and bring him to live with us.” 

They had closed the distance to the barn. Red pause at the door to the barn before finishing his story. 

“I wasn’t able to find the house with space for a horse before she disappeared on Christmas Eve. When I found this place I knew it was exactly what Grace wanted. I bought this house about twelve years ago and made good on my promise to her.” with that Red swung the door open and motioned her to enter. 

What Liz saw inside made her mouth drop. There appeared to be twelve stalls in the barn, six on each side. Inside each stall there was a horse. As Red approached the first stall he paused to give the neck of the coal black horse a few pats. The horse playfully butted Red in the chest.   
Red gave a bright happy smile.

“This is Boldly Goes. He is the first horse that I rescued from the short life that would have been his with his old owner. His previous owner was a kind soul. He only had a string of 5 horses and they were all racing. Boldly was one of the five and he’d started losing all his races. The previous owner had to stop racing him, they were not winning enough to recoup the entry fees that he was shelling out. I was lucky enough to contact him on the day he was going to call a man from the local slaughter house. Can you imagine this magnificent animal being killed to make dog food?” he asked her rhetorically. He could tell by the look on her face what her answer would be.

“I brought him here and hired a groom to take care of him. None of these horses here are ridden very often. I know how to ride, but I don’t really like to ride alone. If you decided you want to take one for a ride just ask Manny and he’ll be happy to saddle one up for you.” Red saw Lizzie’s eyes widen in excitement. What was it about girls and horses? It looked like they never outgrew it.

“Are all these horses that you rescued?”

“Yes, after I rescued Boldly I decided he need some companionship. I put word out to all the local stables that I was interested on obtaining another horse, preferably another gelding. The thought was they would be more likely to sell or kill geldings. The call came about a week later and I’ve been rescuing old race horses since. I don’t have room for any more. When one passes away I rescue another one and bring them here. I think Grace would be happy that this place exists.” Red finished with a sad smile and watery eyes.

Lizzie found herself strangely touched that he would share a memory that was obviously so precious to him. Red never spoke about his daughter. She knew it was because it was so painful for him to speak about Grace. 

“Thank you for sharing this with me.” Liz said quietly as she wrapped her arms around his waist and tucked her head underneath his chin.

As Red returned the embrace he knew that Lizzie understood exactly what he was sharing with her. This minuscule attempt to keep a piece of his daughter alive, even if it was only the memory of her. His hold on her tightened for a moment before he released her.

“The horses were only a part of the reason I wanted to show this to you. This barn and the house behind it are all owned by me obviously, but under a different name. Its ownership seems much more straightforward than the house we just came from. It was amazingly difficult to make it seem that an older couple bought this property fifty years ago.” Red said as he linked his hand with hers and started walking down the aisle between the stalls. 

Liz stopped at every stall along the right side of the barn to pet the heads peaking out of the immaculately maintained stalls. She’d have to ask him to introduce her to this Manny that was taking care of the horses. In all the time she’d spent at this house she hadn’t seen anyone around the barn, no truck parked near the barn, nothing.

“Our friends at the FBI would have no reason to think that our elderly neighbors are anything more than soft hearted racing enthusiasts that keep old race horses. Of course, these same neighbors are always on vacation and their house is empty most of the time. The FBI is unlikely to have put any surveillance equipment here or in the house.” 

Red grabbed Lizzie’s other hand and turned her to face him. “I realized when I was talking to you about sharing a bedroom earlier that I may have been presumptuous.” He slowly reeled her in until she was in his arms again. 

“After all, we have never even kissed yet.” he said softly. 

Liz smiled as she reach up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I think we should remedy that, after all we could hardly share a bed without sharing a kiss first.” 

With that decided Red leaned in slowly and placed his lips against hers. He gave her an almost chaste kiss. This was not at all what Lizzie expected from him. She decided to show him that she was willing to go a little further. She moved her hand to cradle the back of his head and pulled him back to her. Her kiss started tenderly, but their passion ignited into a bright flame. As they shared open mouthed kisses their moans filled the air of the barn. They broke apart after what seemed like forever and also like no time at all had passed. The sound of their panting breaths replaced the sound of their moans. 

“I’m glad we’ve got that out of the way.” Liz said with a smile after catching her breath. “Now I think it’s okay for us to share a bed tonight.”

Liz wished that Red was healed enough that they’d be able to do more than sleep That would happen soon enough. She’d really like to move to another safe house. The last thing she wanted to be worried about was that the house might be bugged. She’d experienced that already with apple man and never wanted it to happen again. With Dembe gone for a few days she knew it was unlikely that they’d be changing houses. 

Red suspected that their thoughts were flowing along the same lines. It was going to be a form of torture to be in the same bed with Lizzie and not being able to make love to her. He was glad she had escaped from the ambulance when Garrick had captured him. Garrick wasn’t a stupid man and he would have quickly determined that he could use Lizzie to extract his revenge against Red. Fitch would never have allowed Garrick to kill him and that would have forced him to get his revenge some other way.

“Do you want to head back to the house? I’m feeling a little tired. Maybe we could take a nap before dinner.” Red had a broad smile on his face and wriggled his eyebrows lecherously. Lizzie’s laugh pealed through the barn as pushed him towards the door. 

“If you are a good boy and behave yourself we’ll see about the nap.” 

They exited the barn and walked hand in hand back to the house.


End file.
